Point of Origin Episode 24
Green Gold: Farming Avocados in Mexico
“The real battle of Mexico right now is against corruption. It has touched the avocado in ways that are quite interesting. Whether its Heroin or avocados, they bring in a lot of money, so people want to control it.”
Megan Frye
On today’s episode, we talk to Megan Frye about avocados, and how their sharp increase in demand has affected the Mexican farmers at the source, in both good, and bad ways. We also discuss the dark side of the avocado trade, and how organized crime has become involved in making money off of the “green gold” and government corruption has led to severe ecological impacts.
Available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, & iHeartRadio
Highlights
( 00:00 ) Introduction
( 01:30 ) About the Hass Avocado
( 06:29 ) The Darker Side of the Avocado Trade
( 10:27 ) The Tipping Point
( 13:45 ) The Current Work of Avocado Farmers
( 16:40 ) Other Players in the Avocado Trade
( 20:50 ) The Life of the Mexican Avocado Farmer
( 26:54 ) Indigenous Avocados
( 31:12 ) Closing Remarks from Stephen
The Hass Avocado - “The Green Gold”
Image Credit: Quentin Lebeau
The Hass Avocado is the most widely cultivated variety in the world. It’s grown everywhere now, from Mexico to Peru to Indonesia. What makes the Hass so attractive is that it can be picked from a tree, when it’s not ripe, and over the course of three weeks to a month, it will ripen. This means it has a long period of time that it can remain good while being transported from farm to consumer.
The Hass Avocado was first cultivated in California, outside of Los Angeles, by Rudolf Hass in 1926. He created it by blending together a Mexican and Guatemalan variety. In 1935 he patented the newly created variety, and they began to grow. Due to their different appearance from other avocados, they didn’t immediately become popular. It’s actually estimated that Rudolf Hass only made around $4,800 from avocado royalties before his death in 1952.
However, today the Hass Avocado has become the most popular variety, especially in the United States. In Mexico, it has been nicknamed “Green Gold” because of the incredible value that it represents. 80% of the Mexico exports of avocados go to the United states, and these exports amount to around $3 billion.
In Mexico, the farming structure, and even societal structure, has been adjusted by the popularity of the avocado. Once the borders opened in the mid-90’s through NAFTA, avocados become more available in the United States, and all over the world. As they reached America, they gained popularity, and in 2003 “Avocado Fever” began.
Due to the high demand growing in the United States, and throughout the world, the Mexican government came to farmers, and pretty much said “you will now be growing avocados”. The Mexican government supports this massive monocropping of the Hass Avocados because of how much money it was bringing into the country. For farmers, it was hard to argue against it. Embracing avocado farming netted them a lot more money they they would working their land and selling something like peaches to the local market.
Varieties of Avocados
Fuerte Avocado
Pear Shape
5-14 oz
Flavor - rich, nutty
Criollor Avocado
Pear Shape
1.5-6 oz
Flavor - buttery, nutty
Bacon Avocado
Oval Shape
6-12 oz
Flavor - buttery, creamy
Gem Avocado
Round Shape
7-11 oz
Flavor - rich
Reed Avocados
Round Shape
8-18 oz
Flavor - buttery, nutty
Zutano Avocado
Pear Shape
6-14 oz
Flavor - slightly watery
Image Credits: Quentin Lebeau
The States of Michoacán and Morelos
where our story takes place
Image Credit: Quentin Lebeau
Michoacán is the 16th largest state in Mexico, and home to around 4.5 million people. Agriculture occupies around 20% of the land area of the state, or about a million hectares of land. Michoacán is the largest producer of avocados in both Mexico and in the world, due a lot to the state’s perfect geography and climate for growing. It never get too cold, like it does around other areas of Mexico, and it has really fertile soil due to the dormant volcanoes throughout the land.
Due to the huge avocado trade, the state has been experiencing more organized crime, looking to profit off of the agricultural exports. These criminals come into the community, and take over farms, holding both the land and people hostage, while stealing the profits off the land. It has gotten to the point, that many farmers have formed armed vigilante groups to protect each other and the farms in their communities.
Morelos is the second smallest state in Mexico with a population of around 1.9 million people. The weather is warm and mostly sunny year around, so it’s a productive area for agriculture. Sugar Cane and other crops, like Avocados, are some of the most farmed commodities.
The Life of the Mexican Avocado Farmer
Photo Credit: Megan Frye
“The farmers that I spoke with have told me very clearly that their quality of life has improved dramatically in the village.”
Many of these farming communities were impacted by the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit Mexico In September 2017. Through this new avocado money they’ve been able to reconstruct their homes and hope for the future.
“They have hopes that their children will go to college, and these are things that 20 years ago, before the avocado fever hit, it wasn’t really something people had as realistic expectations”
There’s been an increase in medical care, access to cars, newly paved roads, and all different kinds of infrastructure. Some of these places were quite remote, and through all the money that has come in, they’ve been able to build their communities up. One farmer said,
“I remember we were behind in a lot of ways, but yes, I have seen the improvement.”
This is a tough dichotomy to look out. While the avocado fever has brought prosperity to many of the farmers, other have seen a completely different story. The large money that avocados have netted has attracted organized crime, resulting in violence, kidnapping, hostage-taking and even murder. At the same time, the move to monocropping the highly demanded Hass avocados has led to a decreased biodiversity and loss of indigenous varietals. Not to mention, the ecological impact of deforestation to make way for more farms.
The hope is that the Mexican Government could help to solve some of the negative aspects of farming, but unfortunately corruption and greed has gotten in the way of any meaningful solutions.
Read Megan Frye’s story in
Whetstone Magazine: Volume 06
“There are dozens of varieties native to the country, yet the hunger for Hass has propelled it to dominate avocado cultivation around the world.”
Image Credit: Diana Itzel García Herrera
Meet our Guest
About Megan Frye
Megan Frye is an independent journalist and translator living in Mexico. She has a history of newsroom journalism as well as non-profit administration and works with international and Mexican publications. She loves all the books, all the totopos and a draft Guinness while stateside. A product of the Rustbelt Riviera, she’s also a musician, photographer and hypnotherapist. Her current favorite musical genre is Latin folktronica; her most beloved teachers are nature and the subconscious mind.
