Humans and Other Pollinators in the Oil Palm Plantation Complex

Authors

Abstract

The first oil palm plantations relied on human interventions for the sexual reproduction that made the palm oil industry possible. Scientists discarded evidence about insect pollinators, only to rediscover them later in the twentieth century. The “million dollar weevil” transformed oil palm cultivation in Southeast Asia, but new problems with disease and hybrid trees cast shadows over its future.

Author Biography

Jonathan Robins, Michigan Technological University

Jonathan Robins is associate professor of global history at Michigan Technological University. He has researched cotton agriculture, food history, and most recently the oil palm industry. His new book, Oil Palm: A Global History, will be published in June 2021 by the University of North Carolina Press.

Oil palm

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Published

2021-02-26

Issue

Section

Spring