No Longer “Confined to the Lower Keys of Florida”: Mainland United States Cultivation of Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) in a Changing Climate

Abstract

Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is a domesticated tree crop found throughout the insular Pacific and in other tropical regions of the world where it has been introduced, most notably in the Caribbean. Although breadfruit thrives in Hawai‘i, as it has since before European contact, efforts to introduce breadfruit to the mainland United States have been challenged by the tree’s intolerance for even mildly cold temperatures. Historically, only extreme southern Florida has been consistently warm enough to support breadfruit cultivation. Today, however, likely owing to warming temperatures associated with global climate change, but possibly also the selection of breadfruit varieties with improved cold tolerance, an increasing number of growers based throughout Florida are finding success cultivating breadfruit trees and producing fruit. Using a mixed-methods approach including interviews and surveys among forty-three Florida-based breadfruit growers, this article investigates the current status and geographical range of breadfruit in the mainland United States and considers both the sustainability implications and the remaining environmental challenges regarding its cultivation.

面包果（Artocarpus altilis）是一种人工培育果树, 遍布太平洋岛屿等热带地区, 尤其是加勒比海地区。早在欧洲人到来之前, 面包果就在夏威夷旺盛地生长。由于该树种即使在中度低温条件下都无法存活, 所以, 将面包果引入美国大陆的努力受到了挑战。从历史上看, 只有美国佛罗里达州最南端的持续温暖适宜面包果种植。目前, 可能是由于全球气候变化导致的气侯变暖, 也可能是由于选择了更耐寒的面包果品种, 佛罗里达州有越来越多的种植者成功地种植面包果树、生产面包果。根据对43名佛罗里达州面包果种植者的采访和调查, 本文采用混合方法, 研究了美国大陆的面包果现状及其分布范围, 思考了面包果种植的可持续性及其对环境的挑战。

El árbol del pan (Artocarpus altilis) es una especie arbórea domesticada que se cultiva a través de las islas del Pacífico y en otras regiones tropicales del mundo donde se le ha introducido, notablemente en el Caribe. Aunque el árbol del pan se le cultiva en Hawaii desde antes del contacto europeo, los intentos por introducirlo a los Estados Unidos continentales han tenido que enfrentar su intolerancia a temperaturas incluso ligeramente frescas. Históricamente, solo en el extremo sur de la Florida se registra un clima lo suficiente y continuamente cálido como para permitir el cultivo de esta planta. Ahora, sin embargo, quizás debido a temperaturas más cálidas asociadas con el cambio climático global, pero posiblemente también por la selección de variedades que han ganado una tolerancia mejorada al frío, se registra un número creciente de cultivadores dispersos en el estado de Florida exitosos en cultivar el árbol del pan y producir fruta. Usando un enfoque de métodos mixtos que incluyen entrevistas y encuestas entre cuarenta y tres cultivadores de árbol del pan radicados en aquel estado, en este artículo se investiga el estatus actual y el ámbito geográfico del árbol del pan en los Estados Unidos continentales, considerando tanto las implicaciones de sustentabilidad como los retos ambientales supérstites en relación con su cultivo.

Key Words:

• agriculture
• breadfruit
• climate change
• Florida
• tropicalization

关键词:

• 农业
• 面包果
• 气候变化
• 佛罗里达
• 热带化。

Palabras clave:

• agricultura
• árbol del pan
• cambio climático
• Florida
• tropicalización

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank all the Florida-based breadfruit growers who responded to our online survey and who welcomed us to their homes, farms, gardens, and nurseries for site visits. We are grateful to Bárbara Gasquet Carrera and Maria T. Zaldivar for their assistance in creating the Spanish version of the survey, and to Molly French for its development and administration. Mike Opgenorth of the National Tropical Botanical Garden and Noa Kekuewa Lincoln of the University of Hawai‘i-Manoa provided valuable background information on breadfruit (or ‘ulu as it is rightly called in Hawai‘i). Crafton Clift, Arturo Gonzalez, Chris Rollins, and Larry Wiggins shared their knowledge and experience of tropical horticulture in Florida. Jonathan Crane of Tropical Research and Education Center and Michelle Leonard-Mularz of the University of Florida Extension office in Monroe County offered insight and assistance. Fieldwork for this project was supported by internal funding through the HTC Honors College at Coastal Carolina University.

Supplemental Material

The specific questions included in the online survey, along with notes on the design and structure of the survey itself, are available as an online supplement to this article. This supplemental information can be accessed on the publisher’s site at: https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2022.2107986

Notes

1 Vaughan’s letter, dated 17 March 1789, would have been written while Bligh was still overseeing final efforts to load the Bounty with potted breadfruit saplings at Tahiti’s Matavai Bay; in another letter the following year, Vaughan would break the news of the mutiny to Jefferson.

2 Morton cites USDA SPI #19228 as the record of the 1906 importation. A cross-check of the USDA’s Bureau of Plant Industry bulletins from the time reveals that Seed and Plant Introduction number 19228 did indeed occur on 27 September 1906, and involved an unstated number of breadfruit plants (given the then-current scientific name Artocarpus incisa) that were brought from Ancon, in Panama, and received by one Henry F. Schultz (USDA 1908, 18).

3 Both authors are Florida natives. Based on the frequency with which our birthplaces came up in discussions with Florida-based breadfruit growers, and the positive manner in which this information was received, we believe that mentioning this fact in initial communications was instrumental in gaining access to some of the sites we visited.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Russell Fielding

RUSSELL FIELDING is an Assistant Professor in the HTC Honors College, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC 29528. E-mail: [email protected]. His research addresses issues related to food security and sustainability in the Caribbean and other tropical and semitropical regions of the world.

Jorge Julian Zaldivar

JORGE JULIAN ZALDIVAR is a tropical fruit farmer in Guavonia Guava Grove & Tropication Rare Plants, Homestead, FL 33031. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include prerevolutionary Cuba, Floridiana, guava, Florida agriculture, and historical anecdotes surrounding Miami, Florida.