On a hot July afternoon, two large yellow bulldozers were at work, digging into the soil of a lush avocado orchard near Madero, a small town in central Mexico’s Michoacán state. Drone footage captured the scene as the earth movers hollowed out the ground, which Mexican environmental group Guardian Forestal and an activist identified as an attempt to construct a water reservoir.
Under Mexican law, an environmental impact study and permit are required for storing and using water for avocado farming, which is highly resource-intensive. However, data from the national water authority, Conagua, showed that only 42 reservoirs and wells in Madero were legally registered. Yet, according to two activists, there are hundreds of similar, unpermitted water pools in the area.
As Michoacán faces a severe drought, avocado producers often resort to taking water from lakes and communal basins, draining them to alarmingly low levels, according to local and state officials. These illegal practices, driven by the rapidly expanding avocado industry to meet growing U.S. demand, are causing significant harm to nearby forests.
The environmental impact has led to lawsuits filed by the U.S. nonprofit Organic Consumers Association against West Pak Avocado Inc. and Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., accusing them of falsely labeling Mexican avocados as “sustainable” or “responsibly sourced.” The association argues that these avocados are neither responsibly sourced nor environmentally sustainable. While West Pak declined to comment, Fresh Del Monte did not respond to inquiries.
These lawsuits, filed in Washington, D.C., bring attention to the supply chains of U.S. companies involved in the Mexican avocado industry. While the industry is profitable for growers, it is increasingly under pressure from organized crime groups and facing accusations of causing significant environmental damage.
An analysis by the nonprofit Climate Rights International revealed that two orchards in Madero, which were illegally deforested after 2015, have been selling avocados to West Pak as recently as December and January. During a visit in July, journalists observed farm machinery digging a water reservoir on one of these orchards.
The lawsuits demand that West Pak and Fresh Del Monte remove their claims of a sustainable supply chain, citing issues like water scarcity, climate change, and the decline of endangered Monarch butterflies in Michoacán. The Organic Consumers Association is also asking the court to declare that these companies are violating consumer protection laws in the District of Columbia.
Avocado exports to the United States have surged by 48% since 2019, with the U.S. market accounting for about 80% of Mexico’s total avocado exports, amounting to $3 billion last year. Despite concerns, there has been no government action from either Washington or Mexico to block avocados sourced from illegal orchards.
The high demand for avocados, often called “green gold” in Mexico, has also attracted crime groups that extort payments from producers, displace people, and deforest the once-green countryside. Climate Rights International has documented over 30 threats or acts of intimidation linked to the avocado trade, including abductions and fatal shootings.
Residents in Michoacán have responded by destroying illegal water pumps installed by producers that drain communal reservoirs. Some have even gone as far as destroying avocado orchards. The environmental director of Madero, Savas Melchor Gómez, lamented the destruction, saying, “About eight or ten years ago, it was pure wilderness here. They set the mountains on fire to clear them and continue expanding, and it goes on and on.”
To combat illegal logging, Michoacán officials plan to launch an online platform this month that will provide public information about illegally deforested orchards. This platform aims to certify avocados from orchards that do not engage in illegal deforestation and enhance transparency. However, activists and researchers estimate that the true number of illegal orchards is likely in the thousands and may not be adequately identified by the platform, which only tracks illegal deforestation since 2018.
