The Problem with Avocados (2024)

Trigger warning: This article contains references to sexual violence in The Human Cost section below.

For some time, the avocado has been the darling of the food movement. Nutritious and delicious, avocados are loved by vegans and omnivores alike—who consume 11 billion pounds of them worldwide each year[1]—not to mention being a trendy symbol of healthy eating. One serving (about one-third of a medium Hass avocado) provides nearly 20 different nutrients, many of which are considered heart healthy, including unsaturated fat, fiber, vitamin K, vitamin E, and potassium.[2] Additional health benefits of this green fruit include antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, antiatherogenic, antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial effects.[3]

Unfortunately, avocados might not be as green as they seem—at least from an environmental standpoint: avocados are an especially thirsty crop, for instance, and as demand for this superfood grows, its production has led to deforestation and biodiversity loss. Furthermore, as we have seen with other foods, such as bananas and chocolate, there are additional issues to think about before tucking into your favorite avocado dish.

So, let’s take a closer look at the enormously popular avocado and consider its environmental and social consequences.

Avocado 101

Whether they are mashed onto toast, blended in a smoothie, or added to recipes in dozens of other ways, avocados are as versatile as they are tasty. But they have a distinguished history that reaches well beyond hipster menus and health food stores. Scientists don’t agree on where the avocado originated, but what is certain is that cultures in Mesoamerica have been among the avocado’s most devoted admirers. Archaeologists have discovered evidence of avocados as a crop in Coaxcatlan, Puebla, Mexico, dating back 10,000 years.[4] Avocados can be found in Aztec paintings, on Pacal tombs in Chiapas, and on the Maya calendar, where the fourteenth month (K’ank’in) is represented by the glyph for the avocado.[5] And if you love guacamole, you can thank the Aztecs, who were mixing what they called ahuaca-mulli, or “avocado sauce,” hundreds of years before it became a go-to dip to enjoy during Super Bowl games.[6]

With its oversized seed, however, the avocado is a bit of an evolutionary miracle. The tree from which it comes only grows naturally through seed dispersal, and the megafauna—such as mammoths and giant sloths—who once ate the pear-shaped fruit whole and then deposited the seed during their travels have long since vanished. How the avocado manages to exist in the wild remains a mystery.[7] What has allowed the avocado tree and its fruit to prosper commercially, of course, has been cultivation, which mainly involves rooting avocado cuttings, layering, and grafting.

Hundreds of varieties of avocado trees have been cultivated around the world, though they need tropical and Mediterranean temperatures to thrive. All these trees have their origin in Guatemala, Mexico, or the West Indies.[8] Mexico is by far the largest grower of avocados,[9] and the state of Michoacán, near Mexico City, produces eight out of 10 Mexican avocados and half of all the avocados in the world.[10] The state’s mountainous landscape has an astounding 42,000 avocado orchards located at high elevations, from 2,000 to 10,000 feet.[11] Eighty percent of all avocados consumed in the United States have been imported from Michoacán.[12] (The U.S. has a much smaller avocado industry.)

A big reason for the boom in avocado imports to the U.S. is NAFTA. The North American Free Trade Agreement, which was in effect from 1994 until 2020, was meant to encourage tradeamong Canada, Mexico, and the United States but ended up doing more damage than good. Before NAFTA, the U.S. did not allow fresh avocados from Mexico, allegedly due to concerns that the fruits were infested by insects.[13] After years of negotiations with Mexican officials, the USDA permitted avocados to be imported in 1997. (Unfortunately, NAFTA allowed the U.S. to export cheap corn to Mexico, where farms could not compete with the cut-rate prices and nearly 1.3 million farm workers lost their jobs between 1994 and 2004.[14] Many of these laborers came to the U.S. looking for work.[15])

Annual avocado consumption in the U.S., which was about 1 pound per person in 1989,[16]quadrupled from 2 pounds per person in 2001 to 8 pounds by 2021.[17]

The environmental cost

The meteoric increase in avocado sales has had a serious impact on the planet. Avocado production is highly water-intensive, using an average of 70 liters per avocado, which is more than three times the amount of water needed to grow one orange and 14 times the amount of water to grow a single tomato.[18] (Xavier Equihua, CEO of the World Avocado Organization, argues that most avocado production is irrigated by rainwater.[19]) Avocado production has also caused biodiversity loss,[20] and because they are generally shipped long distances in cold storage, avocados have a rather large carbon footprint.[21]

Growing avocados is so lucrative that farmers cut down older trees and replace them with young avocado trees, draining local water supplies and leading to deforestation.[22] In Michoacán—one of the most important ecosystems in Mexico—farmers have been removing oak and pine trees for avocado orchards at an alarming rate. In 2016, officials estimated the state was losing between 15,000 and 20,000 acres of forest each year due to avocados;[23] in 2021, researchers said the total is closer to 36,000 acres.[24] Among the many species that suffer from this deforestation are monarch butterflies, [25] Mexican environmental inspectors have discovered illegal avocado plantations encroaching on areas of the state set aside to protect the butterflies.[26]

As if all that weren’t bad enough, avocados are also treated as a monoculture crop, which are increasingly reliant on chemical pesticides and fertilizers to reduce production costs.[27] Monoculture crops also absorb all the nutrients from the soil, slowly degrading it year after year.[28] Also impacting the environment are the agricultural chemicals used to keep up with production demands, which harm pollinators, contaminate the subsoil, and leach into waterways.[29]

The human cost

The popularity of avocados has been a mixed blessing for farmers in Mexico, where the fruit is known as oro verde (“green gold”). On one hand, growing avocados is so profitable that a farmer with even a few acres of avocado trees earns enough to send his children to college or to buy a new pickup truck, which is something that no other crop has been able to offer.[30] On the other hand, the economic success of avocado production—valued at US$3 billion annually,[31] ahead of Mexico’s beer and tequila industries—has attracted the attention of the country’s cartels.

These organized crime groups use violence and the threat of violence to get what they want.[32] Their tactics include seizing avocado plantations, cutting down swaths of forest to start their own orchards, and demanding that farmers who own avocado trees pay “protection fees.” Avocado pickers have been forced by cartels to work at gunpoint for no pay, while drivers of avocado-laden trucks have been robbed of their loads.[33] Farmers who resist the cartels have been tortured and killed.[34]

Indeed, anyone who stands up to the cartels is at risk. Among the most gruesome examples are 19 people who were killed in 2019; their bodies were found in locations around the city of Uruapan, Michoacán. Some had been displayed over a bridge as a graphic warning to others who try to oppose the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which took credit for the murders.[35]

The cartels have also allegedly targeted activists working to protect monarch butterflies from encroaching avocado orchards, including the manager of El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve, Homero Gómez González, whose body was discovered about two weeks after he disappeared from the sanctuary in January of 2020.[36]

Recommendations

With avocados being labeled “the new blood diamond”[48] due to their unsustainability and threat to human rights (at least for the time being), a consumer boycott of the fruit would seem to be an obvious response. Indeed, many chefs have scratched avocados right off their menus.[49]

Yet the solution is not that simple, and a boycott—if the workers called for it, which is the only way F.E.P. would support a boycott—may actually hurt farmers more than it helps. In Michoacán, for example, 34 percent of the population works in agriculture, and avocado farming provides hundreds of thousands of jobs.[50] A boycott could be economically devastating to an impoverished group that already wants no part of the cartels.

Also keep in mind that farm workers in the U.S. avocado industry earn only about $14.77 per hour (in 2021).[51] And these workers suffer many of the same injustices common among farm workers—most of whom are immigrants—such as prolonged exposure to heat and agricultural chemicals, substandard housing, verbal or physical abuse, and discrimination.[52]

With the many issues surrounding avocados—including the vast amount of water that goes into their production in the U.S.—one step you can take is to reduce your consumption of avocados, and when you do purchase them, support eco-friendly farming by buying organic avocados grown in the U.S. at your local farmers’ market or those imported by Equal Exchange, which launched a small-scale farmer program for Mexican avocados in 2013, to establish a market for small-scale farmers and their produce in the precarious arena of the avocado market.

[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/avocado-environment-cost-food-mexico/

[2] https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/vegetable-of-the-month-avocado

[3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/persea

[4] https://www.jstor.org/stable/41761865

[5] https://www.jstor.org/stable/41761865

[6] Sophie D. Coe, America’s First Cuisines (University of Texas Press, 1994), p. 45.

[7] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-the-avocado-should-have-gone-the-way-of-the-dodo-4976527/

[8] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/avocado-types#types

[9] https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Avocado%20Annual_Mexico%20City_Mexico_12-01-2021.pdf

[10] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/avocado-environment-cost-food-mexico/

[11] https://avocadoinstitute.org/avo-journey/magic-of-michoacan/magic-of-the-four-blooms/

[12] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/02/15/mexican-avocado-import-ban/

FAQs

Is there a problem with eating avocados everyday? ›

Avocado FAQs

A daily dose of avocado is good for your heart. Research has shown that people who eat avocados every day have higher levels of HDL, the "good" cholesterol. Avocados also may be good for your gut biome. But they're high in calories, so stick to recommended serving sizes.

Discover More Details ›

What is the issue with avocados? ›

Avocado production has also been linked to deforestation, particularly in Mexico, the world's largest producer of avocados. The expansion of avocado plantations has led to the clearing of forests, contributing to climate change, extinction, increased carbon in the atmosphere, and soil erosion.

See Details ›

What's going on with avocados right now? ›

As you may have noticed, avocado prices have been climbing rapidly in recent weeks. This is primarily due to growers in Mexico slowing down their harvest, resulting in fewer fruit crossings and an increase in demand. The situation is expected to intensify in the week of June 25, 2023, as triggers come into play.

Learn More Now ›

Why are chefs ditching avocados? ›

Problems include deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and water shortage in growing communities. Avocado farming is increasingly linked to deforestation, biodiversity loss, and water shortages.

Read The Full Story ›

Is there a downside to eating avocados? ›

Overeating avocados can cause adverse effects: Weight gain. Despite being an unsaturated fat, eating too many avocados can lead to weight gain due to the fat content. This can result in nutritional deficiencies because fat is digested more slowly and leaves you feeling fuller longer than other nutrients.

Show Me More ›

What happens to your gut if you eat avocado everyday? ›

Beneficial for gut health

Avocados are high in fiber, providing about 14 grams in each avocado. That's nearly half of the current DV for this important nutrient. Getting enough fiber in your diet is essential for the health of the digestive system because it helps promote the growth of healthy bacteria.

Show Me More ›

Why are restaurants not using avocados? ›

Some chefs are moving away from using avocados in their restaurants due to concerns over the fruits' large carbon footprint, unsustainable harvesting methods, and role in organized crime.

Learn More ›

Where does the US get most of its avocados? ›

Mexico supplied most of the avocados imported into the United States in 2021. In 2021 the United States imported $3 billion in fresh avocados and exported approximately $31 million in fresh avocados (ERS 2021). Commercial shipments of avocados from approved orchards in Mexico can now be distributed to all 50 states.

Why I don't eat avocado? ›

Avocados are rich in fats, so eating too much of this fruit may result in uncontrollable weight gain. Because of this, it is advised to reduce the amount of avocados in your daily meals if you are aiming to shed some excessive weight.

Tell Me More ›

Why not eat avocado toast? ›

They're not a complete breakfast.

Being that they're a fruit, avocados are very low in protein. Protein is super important in the morning - it gives you a boost of energy and keeps you full longer. Avocado toast is essentially carb + fat.

Keep Reading ›

How many avocados a week is it safe to eat? ›

Rifkin also says that if someone wants to have a serving of avocado more than twice a week, she says to go for it. “Being that it boasts incredible nutritional value, I believe three times a week or even daily is very reasonable,” she says.

Read On ›

When not to eat avocado? ›

Avocados are rotten if they're mushy when squeezed, brown or moldy inside, and have developed rancidity or a sour smell. You may be able to salvage part of the fruit if it's just starting to brown inside and the rest of the fruit looks, smells, and tastes fine.

Explore More ›

Is too much avocado bad for cholesterol? ›

Avocados. Avocados are a good source of nutrients as well as monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). Research suggests that the fiber from avocados can improve HDL cholesterol levels and the quality of LDL cholesterol. Adding two servings of avocado per week to a heart-healthy diet can lower your risk of heart disease.

See Details ›

Do avocados burn belly fat? ›

Studies show that women who regularly consume avocados typically have reduced abdominal (belly) fat. According to a recent study conducted by the University of Illinois, women who ingested avocados daily lost deep visceral abdominal fat.

Get More Info ›