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Armed avocado farmers have recently made their way into the news again.

The farmers are challenging:

  • The cartels that threaten their livelihoods,
  • The federal government’s unwillingness to do much more than plead with them to lay down their weapons.

Mexico’s “green gold” is the main point of contention.

The cartels want a piece of it, and are threatening farmers with violence.

However, rural avocado farmers are taking the law into their own hands.

They’ve organized themselves into armed groups to protect their farms and investments.

Farmers arrived at this REGRETABLE decision because the  government was absent when they needed protection from avocado cartels.

In instances when the government was available, it was impotent.

It couldn’t protect the farmers at all. All it could do is watch the cartels slaughter them.

Why Avocados are Attracting Armed Conflicts In Mexico.

Since the Spanish arrived at the shores of Mexico, Avocados have been an important EXPORT crop.

It earned farmers substantial fortunes, and moved them out of poverty.

As we speak: 

  • Mexico currently exports 2.1 million tones of the fruit each year, providing 70% of the world’s supply.

  • It is the most important food export after beer, worth US $3.1 billion.

  • Mexico ships Avocados to 64 countries around the world without satifying the unquenchable demand for avocado.

  • A bulk of these shipments goes to the United States, which has developed a ravenous appetite for guacamole, especially during Super Bowl week.

  • Sales in early February 2021 alone are worth millions of dollars to farmers and shippers.

  • Mexico exports 2.1 million tonnes of avocados each year, providing 70% of the world’s supply.

  • Their mass export out of the country is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Mexico’s avocado boom benefits rural farmers — but also organized crime

Evolution of Mexico Avocado Exports

Fresh avocados from Mexico were banned by the United States from 1914 to 1997.

The export ban was because of the seed weevil, a pest seen as a threat to U.S. avocados grown primarily in California.

However, in 1988, the export of Mexican avocados began in Europe.

This development acted as a precusor to the acceptance of Mexican avocados into the USA.

Through  trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement and other commercial changes, a system was set up to allow safe import into the U.S.

A boom soon began, and in 2016, avocados became Mexico’s most important produce export, displacing tomatoes.

Today, about 46% of all Mexican exported avocados head to the United States, according to […]