The avocado: nutritious and rich.
The production of avocados has soared in the years since import restrictions were lifted by the United States, to the point where in the 2013-14 crop year Mexico’s exports were a record 512,134 tonnes.
Restricting avocado imports in to the U.S. dates all the way back to 1914, when there were fears over avocado weevil outbreaks from the imported fruit.
In 1997, after much lobbying by the Mexican government, Mexican avocados were allowed to be imported into 13 states where the offending weevil would not survive the cooler temperatures: avocado-producing states such as California, Florida and Hawaii were out of bounds.
Restrictions were lifted 10 years later and today 84% of Mexico’s avocado production goes to the U.S. Not only that, but Mexico is now the world’s largest producer of the fruit, which is actually native to central Mexico.
The association of Michoacán avocado producers says there were 60 producers in the export program in 1997. Now there are 11,202. Marketing director Eduardo Serena says the product is moved by land to U.S. markets, a process that has been streamlined to the point where it can be delivered to Texas in 48 hours.
Fruit that is harvested, selected and packaged on Monday is delivered to supermarkets on Wednesday.
Tests have been carried out to determine if it can be moved efficiently by water from the ports of Lázaro Cárdenas in Michoacán and Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz, but land transport remains the favored method because it’s cheaper, said Serena.
By the time the avocado arrives in supermarkets in Los Angeles, California, its value has soared. Consumers are willing to pay between US $1.50 and $2.00 apiece for them.
But it’s not just improved trade relations that have contributed to the avocado’s popularity north of the border. Sales have skyrocketed due to changes in eating habits. Guacamole, says Shannon O’Neil of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, has become a restaurant and home staple as opposed to the little known and exotic food that it was 20 years ago.
The avocado’s export growth has not been without ancillary problems. Drug cartels identified the industry in Michoacán as an easy source of revenue and began extracting payments from farmers and packers. According to one report farmers were having to pay up to 1,000 pesos per hectare.
But reports now indicate that the situation is improving through some weakening of the cartels. And one of the main tasks of the new National Gendarmerie is to protect the production and harvest of important export crops, such as the avocado.
It should also be noted that guacamole, whose principal ingredient is the avocado, is one of those foods associated with Super Bowl Sunday when, according to one estimate, Americans eat about 8 million pounds of it.
This writer isn’t waiting for Super Bowl Sunday. Time for some guacamole and chicharrón tacos. Salud!
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