I don’t mean to spoil the party, but there is an environmental downside to it. Approximately 80% of the avocados consumed in the United States come from Mexico. Unfortunately, many of them are grown on illegally deforested land in the states of Michoacán and Jalisco. (Most of the rest comes from California.) So if you’re eating chips or chips on Super Bowl Sunday, you’re probably unknowingly contributing to deforestation in western Mexico. Fortunately, there are relatively simple proposed regulations before the Biden administration takes office that, if adopted, would allow U.S. consumers to enjoy the taste of avocados without further harming fragile ecosystems. , Mexican producers could benefit from it.
Indeed, the United States’ import of Mexican avocados is a testament to the power of free trade. Mexico’s avocado exports to the U.S. rose from virtually zero in 1997, when the U.S. lifted a long-standing embargo, to $2.5 billion in the 2022-2023 season. Because of smart marketing strategies, her per capita consumption in the United States has increased four times since 2000. It currently costs around £9 per person per year. According to Mexican government statistics, Michoacán’s avocado orchards employ 310,000 people, and the industry supports an additional 78,000 jobs upstream.
But meeting this burgeoning demand comes at an environmental cost. Avocado orchards accounted for about one-fifth of Michoacán’s deforestation from 2001 to 2017. Producers have cut down or burned at least 40,000 acres of pine and oyamel fir trees, and in some cases more than 70,000 acres. This is an area equivalent to more than 50,000 soccer fields. — for the past 10 years in Michoacán and the neighboring state of Jalisco. Daniel Wilkinson, a policy advisor for the environment and human rights group Climate Rights International, who conducted an in-depth study of Mexico’s avocado crop late last year, said it is true that forests have been replaced by forests over the past 20 years. He said there was nothing legal. . They are not given state approval for “land use change.”
Land invasions are common, as is theft of water to water thirsty trees. Indigenous activists resisting the expansion of avocado production on communal land have been beaten, kidnapped and killed. The avocado business is deeply entrenched by organized crime, which charges farmers protection fees and controls their access to packing plants. Climate Rights International’s report points to Mexican government data showing that major U.S. food distributors buy avocados from illegally logged land and sell them to virtually all major supermarket chains. are doing. Mexico’s Avocado Exporters Association did not respond to a request for comment. So did the main U.S. lobbying group for Mexican avocados and the two largest U.S. importers.
A way to prevent further destruction of forests, which are also the winter home of millions of monarch butterflies, is to expand the USDA’s existing process for certifying avocado imports from Mexico so that the fruit comes from illegally cleared land. It is to guarantee that it is not a thing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has already deployed up to 100 workers to inspect about 50,000 avocado orchards for pests as part of an agreement between the two governments. In Michoacán, his 85% of the cultivated area is certified. It is relatively easy to have the same agent confirm the legal status of the land as well.
Mexican environmental authorities have already proposed such a strategy to the USDA in 2021, but the US government has not adopted their proposal. On Wednesday, a group of U.S. senators led by Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretaries of State and Agriculture Antony Blinken and Tom Vilsack. He suggested expanding U.S. combat certification. Illegal deforestation in Mexico’s avocado industry. Buy-in from the Mexican government will be essential to ensure that U.S. authorities are not intimidated when inspecting avocado growers.
Even if the U.S. only banned future illegal logging, there would be no incentive for avocado growers to cut down more trees and burn more forest, and packers and distributors would have no incentive to keep their avocados from legal locations. There will be an incentive to confirm this. Deforestation is a complex issue, but this regulatory fix seems like a low-hanging fruit.