Ecological and human dimensions of avocado expansion in México: Towards supply-chain sustainability

Abstract

Avocados have become a global commodity, and environmental and socioeconomic impacts in the regions where avocados are grown have increased in tandem with production. In this article, we synthesize the current state of knowledge about the impacts of avocado production in Michoacán, México, the global center of avocado production. Environmental impacts on biodiversity, soil, and hydrological systems stem from deforestation and forest fragmentation that result from avocado expansion. The avocado industry has brought some economic benefits, namely increased employment and reductions in poverty and out-migration, but inequity in the region limits the positive socioeconomic impacts. We draw comparisons to other commodity studies and propose that lessons learned from such research could be utilized to make the avocado supply chain more sustainable. Ultimately, steps could be taken at all levels of the commodity chain to improve sustainability, including improved farming practices, policies protecting smallholders and local capital, and increased consumer awareness.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13280-021-01538-6.

Introduction

Avocado became a global commodity in the 1990s. Plantings of avocado trees have been replacing ecological space in the oak-pine-dominated forests of central México, driven by world market forces. To date, most of the environmental impact has been localized in the Mexican state of Michoacán. However, it is likely that as production expands elsewhere, so too will the ecological consequences and their associated social costs. There are lessons to be learned from those impacts and those of other useful plants that could be used to craft sustainable strategies meant to mitigate the negative consequences of an increasingly valuable domesticate. The main objective of this review is to summarize the current state of knowledge about the human-environmental issues linked to the rapid expansion of avocado production in Michoacán, México and recommend management and policy actions across all levels of the supply chain to create a more sustainable production of this important commodity.

Demand for avocados in the United States, Europe, and more recently China has increased substantially in the past two decades (Alarcón-Cháires 2018) (see Fig. 1). Forty percent of the world’s avocados are grown in México, and within México, 80% of avocado production occurs in the state of Michoacán (Barsimantov and Navia Antezana 2012). As demand climbed, profits for growers and suppliers have similarly increased, and this monetary success has led to both expansion and intensification of avocado production in México. The resulting deforestation and landscape conversion undoubtedly have numerous environmental, social, and political considerations. Ecologically, as native oak-pine forest in Michoacán is replaced with avocado orchards, vital ecosystem services are lost, including biodiversity habitat, soil and water regulation, and carbon sequestration (Ordóñez et al. 2008; Morales Manilla and Cuevas García 2012; Bravo‐Espinosa et al. 2014; Marroquín-Páramo et al. 2017). At the same time, economic profits are concentrated among a few, powerful large producers, thereby limiting the social and economic benefits to the local community (Stanford 2002; Villanueva Tomas and Anaya 2018). These are effects reminiscent of other commodity-driven alterations (Jadin et al. 2016).

Fig. 1.

Map of avocado exports from Mexico by destination region in 2003 (top) and 2019 (bottom). Total annual exports in metric tons are listed for each year. All data come from the Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera (SIAP)

In the current globalized economy, commodity chains explain many indirect or telecoupled effects on land use and landscapes (Liu et al. 2013; Sun et al. 2017). They are thus a vital focus for investigations of socioenvironmental impacts. Problems in source areas may be exacerbated by consumer demand. International trade connects impacts of consumption in the Global North on landscapes and people in the Global South, especially for products derived from tropical species. Geographic exploration of commodity chains has shed light on patterns of exporting the exploitation of land and labor to southern, developing countries (Arima et al. 2011; Rueda et al. 2018). Much research has analyzed these dynamics with agricultural commodities like coffee, soybeans, and cacao. Avocado (Persea americana Mill.) is a similar commodity, which has only relatively recently grown in international popularity and for which little research has been conducted.

Michoacán, México presents a distinctive ecological and social context. Michoacán ranks fifth among the Mexican states in measures of biodiversity (Cruz Angón et al. 2019); oak-pine forests represent one of the main vegetation types in the area, covering about 16 231 km² or 28% of the state’s total area. These forests host about 30 oak and 15 pine taxa (i.e., species, subspecies, or varieties), as well as a large number of other plant and animal species, and provide fundamental ecosystem services such as hydric balance, carbon sequestration, and supplies of wood, charcoal, resins, and non-timber resources (Cruz Angón et al. 2019). Michoacán is also home to the world-renowned Monarch Butterfly Reserve, which is the southern migration destination for millions of monarchs (Danaus plexippus) arriving each North American winter (Domínguez Caballero and Barrera Flores 2019; UNESCO World Heritage Centre 2020). In recent years, Michoacán has been contested territory among feuding narco groups, leading to violence, social conflict, and distrust in government and police (Maldonado Aranda 2013; Navarro 2016; Ornelas 2018). Due to the profitability of the avocado industry, these social conflicts have become closely tied in some sites with avocado production.

Michoacán is a uniquely important case, and it appears to present an opportunity to learn about and foresee how avocado expansion may occur across other parts of México and the rest of the world. Currently, Michoacán is the only state in México that is permitted to export avocados to the United States due to phytosanitary barriers (see below), although this is expected to change soon. As other states in México begin to export to the U.S., avocado production will further increase dramatically. By understanding how avocado production has impacted Michoacán in the recent past, we can better understand potential impacts of increasing avocado production elsewhere.

The first section of this review documents how Mexican avocados became a global commodity, followed by a brief literature review of the relationships between increasing demand for agricultural commodities and the resulting landscape changes and socioecological impacts. We adapt lessons learned from other commodity studies to our examination of the environmental and human dimensions of avocado production in the context of Michoacán by crafting recommendations for a sustainable production of avocados, paying close attention to which aspects of existing research and policy apply in this context and which do not.

Avocados become a global commodity

First evidence of Persea americana as a utilized species dates back 10 000 years in Coaxcatlán, Puebla in México (Galindo-Tovar et al. 2008). Three main varieties of P. americana exist, which correspond to three centers of domestication and production—P. americana var. drymifolia Schlect. Et Cham. Blake (México), P. americana var. guatemalensis L. Wms. (Guatemala), and P. americana var. americana Berg and Ellstrand (West Indies) (Galindo-Tovar et al. 2008). Human consumption and dispersal played an important role in the evolution and diversification of the different P. americana varieties; when the Spanish arrived in the Americas, avocado was found growing from México to Peru (Galindo-Tovar et al. 2008). The Hass cultivar is one of several Mexican-Guatemalan hybrid cultivars (along with Fuerte, another popular cultivar for consumption), but Hass alone accounts for 85–90% of commercial avocado production today (Ayala Silva and Ledesma 2014). The Hass avocado is ideal for consumption and trade because of its thick skin and high oil content (which gives it a buttery texture), but the low genetic diversity within commercial production is a cause for concern among conservationists and plant breeders. Many call for the protection of Persea crop wild relatives—including P. indica, P. campii, P. comferta, P. drymifolia, and P. guatemalensis—not only for purposes of biodiversity conservation but also for the long-term sustainability of commercial avocado production systems (Ayala Silva and Ledesma 2014).

Michoacán is where commercial production of avocado in México began in the 1950s (Dorantes et al. 2004). Commercialization steadily increased in Michoacán throughout the second half of the twentieth century, expanding to both private and ejido (communally owned) lands. This expansion has become increasingly rapid in more recent years (Barsimantov and Navia Antezana 2012). Phytosanitary regulations imposed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibited the export of Mexican avocados to the United States before 1997 for fear of the spread of a seed borer that was purportedly present in Mexican orchards (Stanford 2002; Barsimantov and Navia Antezana 2012). In response to lobbying efforts from elite Mexican growers, the ban was lifted in 1997, after the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 and a few years of negotiations with California growers (Stanford 2002; Barsimantov and Navia Antezana 2012). The ban was lifted gradually, starting with allowance of imports to 19 northeastern U.S. states, during only four winter months. Over the next two decades, more states were allowed to import, eventually all year round and country wide. As hoped for, the lift of the ban resulted in a drastic increase in avocado exportation to the United States (see Fig. 2). Between 1991 and 1998, export volumes from México almost quadrupled, increasing from 13 000 tons to 47 000 tons, and have continued to grow since. According to Asociación de Productores y Empacadores Exportadores de Aguacate de México (APEAM), in 1997, only 2% of avocados grown in México were exported, but by 2005, the proportion rose to 28% (Barsimantov and Navia Antezana 2012). In tandem, the amount of land dedicated to avocado production in Michoacán increased from 13 350 ha in 1968 and 23 000 ha in 1975 to 78,500 ha in 2000 and more than 86 500 ha in 2006 (Barsimantov and Navia Antezana 2012). In 2019, there was an estimated 167 748 ha in production (Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera 2019). In many cases, this expansion took place into forested areas. Domestic consumption of avocado in México has remained steady in recent years; it is considered a staple food. At the same time, domestic avocado consumption is affected by international avocado prices. Rising avocado prices limit growth of domestic consumption, and moreover, producers prefer to sell to export markets first, particularly those allowed to export to the US (United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Services 2019).

Fig. 2.

Amount of avocado exports from Mexico over time. Exports are expressed in weight (billions of kg) and nominal commercial value (billion US dollars). Price is calculated by dividing nominal commercial value by weight in kg. All data come from the Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera (SIAP)

Increasing demand for commodities and environmental impacts

Little research has been published to date about the environmental and social impacts of avocado, likely because the boom of the avocado market has happened relatively recently. Yet, existing and future analyses of the impact of avocado production build off a large literature quantifying the impacts of production systems for other agricultural commodities. The telecoupling framework, in particular, traces impacts through international trade (Sun et al. 2017). “Telecoupled” systems are coupled human-environmental systems that are connected across large geographic distances (Liu et al. 2013). In a global economy, connections between systems become more geographically distant, as with international trade, and in such systems, the telecoupling framework is useful for examining how global markets affect land change. This framework implies that certain problems are no longer local. With international trade and mobility of investment capital, the impacts of avocado production in Michoacán are driven, in part, by markets abroad, and that impact can be traced through the two-way flow of capital, technology, and products via the supply chain. The telecoupling framework is advantageous in that it can illuminate underlying, rather than just proximate, drivers of change (Friis et al. 2015). Moreover, it opens analysis to understanding policy solutions, as well as obstacles, that lie abroad.

Thanks to the mobility of capital, improved transport, and technological innovation, commodity production is no longer constrained by specific ecological conditions. For example, avocados require a lot of water to grow, yet they are now grown in the dry coastal deserts of Peru thanks to complex, hyper-efficient trickle irrigation systems that use water piped down from the Andes. The economic power of the Global North is revealed through telecoupling examples, as the wealthiest nations in the world tend to dictate which products have the highest global market price. In many ways, consumption patterns in the United States, Europe, and now China shape how land is used and changed throughout the world.

One such analysis that is relevant to the avocado case is the 2018 Rueda et al. examination of how the international chocolate market has impacted cacao production in Ecuador. In that part of South America, there are two predominant varieties of cacao trees, the traditional nacional variety and a new, highly productive clone called CCN-51. The rising global price of chocolate has spurred intensification and conversion from traditional nacional production systems to intensive CCN-51 monocultures. However, intensification has been limited to large producers with access to high amounts of capital, since it requires substantial investments up front and continual investments in system inputs (i.e., fertilizers and pesticides) (Rueda et al. 2018). Although one may expect this to cause smallholders to be blocked from international markets, new, novel telecouplings have occurred that link smallholders to global consumers through the creation of niche chocolate markets for consumers that favor traditional production systems. Moreover, this new telecoupling helps to promote more environmentally friendly production, since smallholder nacional systems harbor higher levels of bio- and genetic diversity and conduct more carbon sequestration than CCN-51 monocultures (Rueda et al. 2018).

Avocado production in Michoacán shows a similar pattern to cacao production in Ecuador in that expansion and intensification resulting from increased international demand favor large producers over smallholders. Unlike cacao production, niche markets have not (yet) emerged in a way that would connect small avocado producers to demanding international consumers. Instead, small producers must work through intermediaries, called coyotes in México, to sell their product. By increasing the length of the supply chain for small producers instead of shortening it, coyotes end up reducing the profits smallholder avocado producers can earn from their crop.

Studies of land change are an important part of telecoupling analyses and can capture much of the ecological impact of agricultural commodities. Lambin et al. (2001) dispelled the misconception that land change is primarily driven by increasing population or high levels of poverty. Instead, they urged researchers to look at how national and global markets incentivize or constrain local actors in making land change decisions.

One such analysis is Jadin et al.’s (2016) study of the beef and fruit industries in Costa Rica, a country affected by a forest transition in recent years (i.e., the shift from net deforestation to net reforestation). Beef production in Costa Rica decreased as beef imports from the U.S. have increased, leading to the reforestation of abandoned pastures in Costa Rica (Jadin et al. 2016). At the same time, however, fruit production for export has increased, leading to deforestation of tropical forest. Moreover, the demand for wood products, particularly for fruit shipping crates, has increased, leading to the replacement of forest with tree plantations (Jadin et al. 2016). Overall, net deforestation (including in Costa Rica for fruit, as well as in the U.S. for beef) is less than the net reforestation in Costa Rica, meaning the country’s forest transition did not simply export all their deforestation elsewhere. However, the subnational analysis reveals important complexities about the nuanced impact across heterogenous landscapes. Reforested pasture lands are ecologically less valuable (in terms of ecosystem services like biodiversity habitat and carbon sequestration) than the forest that is lost to the expansion of fruit cultivation (Jadin et al. 2016).

Similarly, Arima et al. (2011) model indirect land use change in the Amazon as mechanized soy agriculture encroached on existing pasture, causing cattle grazing to, in turn, encroach on Amazon forest. In this way, those authors demonstrate that the Soy Moratorium policies (intending to stop deforestation caused by soy) may have partially failed to achieve their intended effect because of the indirect land use change impacts. Comparisons may be made with deforestation in Michoacán, which has largely been attributed to the growth of the avocado industry. Efforts to curb deforestation in the state must be wary of leakage, due to simply exporting that deforestation to other parts of México (especially as other states open for avocado export to the U.S.) or to other avocado-producing countries. More research is needed to understand the land change dynamics of avocado production and trade between México and other important avocado-producing regions, like Peru and Chile. In these countries, avocados for export are largely grown in coastal regions, where deforestation is not the main environmental concern, but water scarcity is extreme, and the coastal areas are subject to habitat degradation. Understanding the environmental trade-offs between these different systems will be complex, but it is vital if the industry is to work towards more sustainable global production.

A number of studies on coffee point to interesting opportunities for compromise between economic and environmental objectives. Jha et al. (2011, 2014) study the benefits of diversified, shade-grown coffee production systems on ecosystem services such as biodiversity, pollination, pest control, and carbon sequestration. They note, however, that global coffee trends show increasing intensification and a move away from shade-grown systems, likely because smallholder coffee producer livelihoods remain precarious and financial incentives for more ecologically friendly systems are not strong enough (Jha et al. 2014). Jha et al.’s work exemplifies how, in certain commodity systems, environmental and socioeconomic issues are inextricably linked. In this way, coffee production systems are analogous to avocado production in Michoacán, where smallholders are more likely to utilize more environmentally friendly practices (e.g., intact forest matrix among orchards, diversified production, lower chemical inputs), while simultaneously keeping profits—and the socioeconomic benefits they bring—in the local economy. Yet, smallholders struggle to compete with large producers, thereby exacerbating the industry’s environmental impact while limiting its positive socioeconomic benefits.

The research conducted on cacao, beef, fruits, soybeans, coffee, and other agricultural commodities provides a strong foundation for the study of avocados, but lessons learned from past studies of other commodities must be adapted to the specificities of P. americana production and its socioecological context. For example, avocados grow on trees, which offer biodiversity or carbon sequestration advantages when compared to other crops. However, depending on where avocado production is expanding, deforestation may result in a net loss of these ecosystem services. In the next section, we delve into the environmental concerns related to avocado production.

Environmental concerns related to avocado

Changes in the environment caused by avocado expansion in Michoacán include deforestation and fragmentation of native forests, as well as impacts on biodiversity, soil, water, and ecosystem carbon. The type of landscape effects seen in Michoacán can inform our understanding of potential impacts as the avocado frontier continues to expand elsewhere.

Deforestation in Michoacán is heavily concentrated in avocado-growing areas, as evidenced by the various studies of the deforestation rate in the state (see Table 1 and Fig. 3). Both tropical lowland and montane forests have been declining in cover in Michoacán between 2004 and 2014. Forests were displaced for agricultural production, although interestingly, overall rates of forest cover loss for the state have decreased over time. Between 2004 and 2007, Mas et al. (2017) calculated a rate of forest loss of 6660 ha per year (an annual loss of 0.17%), but between 2007 and 2014, they calculated a loss rate of 3000 ha per year (or 0.07% annual loss). Although the overall rate of deforestation is decreasing for the state as a whole, deforestation within Michoacán is concentrated in two sub-regions: the Sierra Costa region along the Pacific coast and the central part of the state, where avocado is grown. Loss of critical habitats such as the high montane forests in Taretan, Uruapan, and Ziracuaretiro, where new avocado farms are being established, is recognized as a problem (Mas et al. 2017). In fact, the rate of forest loss in these areas has been found to be much higher than the state overall (or in México more generally). In 2012, Barsimantov and Antezana examined targeted deforestation rates in 10 of the 12 municipalities that account for 95% of avocado production in Michoacán and compared forest loss across an altitudinal gradient. They found that between 1990 and 2006, 33.1% of forest was lost in elevations above 1200 m—an annual loss of 2.5% (Barsimantov and Navia Antezana 2012). When they focused even further on the ideal altitudinal band for avocado growth (1200 m–2500 m), the percentage lost is even higher, at 39.5% or an annual loss of 3.1% (Barsimantov and Navia Antezana 2012).

Table 1.

Data on forest loss in Michoacán. Different studies on deforestation across Michoacán show a decreasing rate of deforestation between 2004 and 2014, but a higher rate of deforestation in the avocado-growing region compared to the state overall

Annual rate of forest loss	Time period	Spatial extent	Citation
0.17%	2004–2007	State of Michoacán	Mas et al. (2017)
0.07%	2007–2014	State of Michoacán	Mas et al. (2017)
2.5%	1990–2006	Altitudes > 1200 m in 10 municipalities that comprise the majority of Michoacán’s avocado production regiona	Barsimantov and Navia Antezana (2012)
3.1%	1990–2006	Altitudes 1200 m–2500 m (ideal avocado-growing region) in 10 municipalities that comprise the majority of Michoacán’s avocado production regiona	Barsimantov and Navia Antezana (2012)

^aIncluded municipalities: Ario, Nuevo Parangaricutiro, Peribán, Salvador Escalante, Tacámbaro, Tancítaro, Tingambato, Turicato, Uruapan, Ziracuaretiro

Fig. 3.

Deforestation in Michoacán State and the central avocado-growing region. Forest land, non-forest land, and deforestation observed between 2000 and 2019 are shown. a Forest loss across the state, and the rectangle, which is shown zoomed in (c), demarcates the central avocado-growing region. Michoacán is located in southwestern Mexico (b). (Source Global Forest Change Database, Hansen et al. 2013)

Beyond gross deforestation, spatial patterns of forest loss and forest fragmentation are also an important ecological concern. As forests are replaced with avocado orchards, forest patches have become increasingly isolated while avocado production has expanded to create a relatively homogenous landscape of cultivation in some parts of the region (see Fig. 4). Molina Sánchez et al. (2019) focused on the Meseta Purépecha eco-region of Michoacán in their study of forest fragmentation from land use change in the region. Comparing land use classification maps from 1986, 2011, and 2016, Molina Sánchez et al. found an increase in fragmentation of pine-fir and oak forest with a simultaneous decrease in fragmentation of avocado cultivation land use (Molina Sánchez et al. 2019).

Fig. 4.

Satellite imagery depicting land change. Avocado orchard outside of Uruapan, Michoacán (top), and avocado orchards encroaching on existing forest outside of Uruapan, Michoacán (bottom) (Map data: INEGI 2020, Google 2020, Maxar Technologies 2020)

Habitat loss and fragmentation can be expected to have negative impacts on biodiversity, but at the same time, there may be hope that, when managed properly, avocado production could work in conjunction with (and not opposed to) conservation goals for biodiversity preservation. Marroquín-Páramo et al. (2017) studied levels of herpetofauna biodiversity between avocado plantations and two nearby forest types: deciduous tropical forest and coniferous forest. They found a reduction in diversity in plantations as compared to tropical forest; but interestingly, beta diversity (i.e., the difference in species between sites) was high, and there were some species found in the avocado farms that were not found in either nearby forest type (Marroquín-Páramo et al. 2017). This could mean the avocado orchards provide novel ecosystems for different species assemblages. Management recommendations from those authors include keeping farms within a rich forest matrix (i.e., minimize surrounding deforestation) and reducing use of chemical pesticides (Marroquín-Páramo et al. 2017). More research is needed, both for herpetofauna as well as other types of biodiversity, to understand the full effects of habitat loss caused by avocado cultivation.

Soil health is an environmental factor that should be of particular importance to avocado producers since edaphic degradation will decrease future yields. Bravo-Espinosa et al. (2014) studied topsoil properties in the Cupatitzio River Valley in Michoacán, comparing avocado orchards with nearby pine forest. They found that intensive avocado farming resulted in reduced nitrogen (N-NO₃) in the 5–20-cm-deep soil layer and increased runoff (measured by higher resistance to water penetration and lower wet aggregate stability). The authors recommend that better soil management practices be included in agricultural planning around the expansion of avocado farming in the area.

Related to soil quality is the hydrologic system. In Michoacán, by removing the benefits of forest cover and increasing the harmful effects of farming, the avocado industry has a doubly negative impact on water availability. El Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agricolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP) has noted that water supply has been an issue for local residents in certain parts of Michoacán (Chávez León et al. 2012). The reasons for diminishing water availability are twofold. Firstly, forests naturally act to retain water in the soil, thus maintaining the water table. Agriculture monocultures, on the other hand, usually result in lower soil water retention and increased runoff (Bravo‐Espinosa et al. 2014). Avocados are a particularly water-intensive crop, with between two- and sevenfold the water consumption per m² of foliar area compared to local native pine species (Quiroz Rivera 2019). In a report of hydrologic considerations for avocado in Michoacán, INIFAP noted that people in certain areas of Michoacán have had to invest heavily in digging deeper wells because of dropping water tables (Chávez León et al. 2012). Furthermore, there are reports of illegal wells, mismanagement of traditionally used springs, and social conflict over water as a result of water scarcity in the area (Alarcón-Cháires 2018). Moreover, if the application of large amounts of fertilizer to topsoil co-occurs with high levels of runoff, superficial water quality is put at risk (Bravo‐Espinosa et al. 2014).

Carbon sequestration and storage are other ecosystem services that are negatively impacted by land change for avocado cultivation. Ordóñez et al. (2008) calculated carbon content across different ecotypes within the Meseta Purépecha eco-region of Michoacán, finding that intact forests (pine, oak-pine, oak, and fir forests) have greater carbon stocks than land types defined by human use (agriculture, grasslands, scrublands, avocado orchards, plantations, and degraded forests). This work, in particular, provides a good baseline for future studies of carbon dynamics in the larger avocado landscape.

Human dimensions related to avocado

In addition to environmental concerns, there are numerous human dimensions of this coupled socioecological system. In the case of Michoacán, social concerns include poverty, migration, labor, economic inequity, land tenure, and conflict related to the presence of powerful narco groups. These complex dynamics are poorly understood, but they are vital to consider when viewing avocado cultivation in a broader context.

Analyses of the impact of the avocado industry on poverty in Michoacán show mixed results. This is an area of México with high levels of poverty and historically high migration to the United States (Becerra et al. 2010). In 2010, it was the state that received the second highest amount of remittances in México, and was ranked third in the Índice de Intensidad Migratoria, calculated by México’s Consejo Nacional de Población (Uribe Vargas et al. 2012) to quantify out-migration. Avocado farming and its related industry accounted for job creation in Michoacán and beyond. In 2003, the Asociación Agrícola Local de Productores de Aguacate de Uruapan Michoacán (APROAM) tabulated “47 000 direct jobs, 70 000 seasonal jobs and 187 000 indirect, permanent jobs” created by the avocado industry (Dorantes et al. 2004).

Labor in the avocado industry is needed year-round. Small and medium-sized growers rely on family labor and, for some, a few hired field hands. Large farms utilize all hired labor. Organic producers, who are restricted in their use of pesticides, require more labor to manually control pest populations. Farmers sell their fruit to packing houses while it is still on the tree; the packing houses contract harvest laborers. Harvest is done manually due to the delicate nature of the fruit, and once the avocados arrive at the packing house, laborers grade and pack the fruit to be shipped to various locations. Other jobs related to the industry include extension or certification technicians who aid farmers in acquiring certification for export.

Although job creation seems to signal successful and beneficial growth of industry, it does not necessarily imply a just distribution of wealth through avocado farming (see Table 2). Measures of labor conditions and worker dissatisfaction are not evident in this or other studies of the industry, and as such, they are an area of needed research.

Table 2.

Unemployment and poverty rates in Michoacán and Mexico. The average unemployment rate between 2005 and 2019 is lower in Michoacán than in México overall, yet the average poverty rate in a similar time period in Michoacán is higher than that for México. Data come from Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI)

Indicator	Spatial extent	Rate (%)	Time period
Unemployment (average)	Michoacán	3.04	2005–2019
	México	4.22
Poverty rate (average)	Michoacán	54.20	2008–2018
	México	44.60

A study by Villanueva Tomas and Anaya (2018) found that poverty and out-migration have generally decreased between 2000 and 2010 across the whole state, and these reductions have been greater in avocado-growing municipalities. The authors conclude that the avocado industry can be given some credit for helping reduce poverty in the region. At the same time, however, the amount of poverty reduction does not reflect the magnitude of profits for some large, commercial producers. Despite the improvement in poverty rates, Michoacán still suffers from high levels of poverty (see Table 2). In 2017, more than half of the state’s population fell below the poverty line, and 9.4% of the population qualified as living in “extreme poverty” (Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera 2016; Alarcón-Cháires 2018). In this way, positive economic impact in the region is hindered by how profits are distributed (Villanueva Tomas and Anaya 2018). Future studies should include measures of inequality in order to better understand the consequences of this dynamic.

Another important social dimension, which is also related to the expansion of avocados and deforestation, is the complicated nature of land tenure policy in the area. Forest policy change in 1992 allowed communally owned ejido land to be subdivided and sold. This policy, along with a breakdown in local governance in many areas, led to an increase in deforestation from illegal logging, even before avocado expansion. When incentives for avocado expansion arose years later, the pattern of deforestation in the area was already in place (Barsimantov and Navia Antezana 2012). In an effort to curb deforestation across the entire country, México’s Ley General de Desarrollo Forestal Sustentable set up a payment for ecosystem services (PES) program, managed by the Comisión Nacional Forestal (CONAFOR). While the program has enjoyed moderate success in other parts of the country, the profit margins of avocado are so high that PES compensation cannot compete in avocado-producing areas (Hansen 2017).

Social conflict surrounding cartel presence has occurred in Michoacán, like in the town of Cherán. The townspeople here staged a municipal coup d’état in 2011, kicking police out because they were believed to be corrupt. The population declared their intent to defend themselves against cartel encroachment in order to protect their forests and their indigenous culture (McDonnell 2017; Ornelas 2018). The case of Cherán is not unique; this act of setting up municipal auto-defense groups has happened in other towns in Michoacán as well, where people feel the police fail to protect them from narco-mafias (Navarro 2016; Woody 2017; Ornelas 2018). Though seemingly unrelated, conflicts surrounding cartels are not entirely separate from the avocado industry. Narco-mafias reportedly prey on legitimate businesses like avocado farms, demanding a portion of the profits (Woody 2017; Ornelas 2018). There have even been reports of murders motivated by the appropriation of land that is ideal for avocado farming (Alarcón-Cháires 2018; Ornelas 2018).

More research is needed to understand the social dynamics of avocado’s socioecological system and how these factors impact land change for avocado expansion, both in Michoacán and elsewhere. As the avocado frontier expands to new places, production systems will be influenced by the political, social, and economic contexts in which they exist. The global connection to local corruption may need to be evaluated.

Discussion

There are lessons to be learned from developing comparative conceptual and investigative frameworks for assessing the socioenvironmental effects of global commodities. Coffee, for example, comes from tropical forest relatives, has funded forest conversion in places where it is cultivated, and has altered species abundances and mutualisms in tropical landscapes (Jha et al. 2011, 2014). It appears likely that all these features characterize the ecological effects of avocado. Shade-grown coffee and eco-certification have helped mitigate environmental impacts, while providing new marketing opportunities. Another concern is the conservation of wild relatives of useful species (Ayala Silva and Ledesma 2014; Fowler and Tveitereid Westengen 2019), a topic so far given little attention for avocado. México has extensive programs for maize, not only for the hundreds of landraces developed by smallholder farmers, but also for the habitat needs of teosinte, maize’s progenitor, for which a nature reserve was especially designed (González et al. 2018). It is plausible that some similar concepts and strategies could be adapted to the avocado context.

Export trends for avocado show continued growth (Servicio de Información Agroalimentaria y Pesquera 2016). A sustainable avocado production system would require targeted changes at all levels of the commodity chain (see Fig. 5). Sustainability at the level of the producer would require implementation of ecological best practices. At the regional or national level, protections should be put in place for the rights and interests of smallholders and local capital. At the same time, sustainable intensification and regulation of large producers could be used to prevent further land use change. Finally, at the consumer level, changes to the supply chain would be needed to revalue the place and process of production (instead of blinding production context from consumers, which is often the case today). Taken together, all of these recommendations entail a larger ideological shift to a highly regulated market geared towards social and environmental goals. We recognize that achieving change at multiple levels among various actors with myriad interests is a lofty goal. Instead, we present recommendations for change at multiple scales to demonstrate how different stakeholders may take distinct, targeted actions. In addition, we explore the obstacles to the implementation of these recommendations and the reasons why certain policies and research from other commodities or regions would not directly translate to the case of avocados in Michoacán.

Fig. 5.

Making the supply chain sustainable. Various targeted actions can be taken along different parts of the supply chain, including improving production practices in orchards, implementing policies from structural change among distributors, and erasing product abstraction for consumers

Avocado production can be conducted in such a way as to promote important ecosystem services. Principles of agroecology, and lessons learned from traditional or smallholder cultivation practices (which are largely less environmentally harmful than modern, commercialized agriculture), can be used to create sustainable best practices for agricultural production systems. For example, habitat fragmentation could be reduced by keeping a matrix of forested or vegetated patches (with connecting corridors) among patches of crop production. Diverse crop production, as opposed to monocultures, can support high levels of biodiversity, including wild pollinator populations (Jha et al. 2011). Terracing reduces soil erosion and helps soil retain natural fertility, thus diminishing the need for chemical inputs (Doolittle et al. 2002). By implementing these strategies, agricultural production landscapes could achieve environmental, as well as economic objectives.

The biggest obstacle to implementation of best practices on the farm is lack of direct market incentives for producers. Implementing sustainable practices, then, means a more expensive production system with lower output for growers. To incentivize such change, growers would need to see a price premium, meaning consumers must be willing to pay more for a sustainable product. Marketing of niche products, which is elaborated more below, may work to achieve this goal. Alternatively, government subsidies could work to make up for the increase in production costs. Normally, that would be a lofty goal for governments of lower income countries or regions, but since avocados are such a visible, notoriously profitable crop, the Mexican and Michoacán governments may have a vested interest in their long-term sustainability.

Simultaneous with promoting best practices of production, a sustainable avocado production system would need to consider the regulation of flows of capital. Unrestricted capital flows allow outside investors to pull money out of any production system at any moment if it is deemed unprofitable. This instability undermines long-term investment in sustainable practices. Moreover, it disadvantages local capital that cannot disinvest so quickly, though local capital is usually more attuned to long-term social and environmental interests (Greenberg et al. 2012). In Michoacán, small and medium-sized producers struggle to compete with large avocado producers who are funded with outside capital (from either México City or the United States). Preliminary results from producer interviews conducted in Michoacán in 2019 suggest that producers perceive it is the few, highly capitalized large producers who are responsible for the majority of the (illegal) deforestation and negative environmental impacts. Yet, the whole industry must bear the reputational stains of their behavior (Appendix S1).

Although regulating, and thereby potentially dissuading, investment of outside capital seems counter-productive for governments that are often looking to incentivize investment, there are some particularities about the Michoacán context that could be leveraged to make progress in that direction. First, México has a strong history of communal land management through the ejido system. Although ejido land can now legally be subdivided and sold, certain ejidos have rules in place that require ejido approval of a sale. This type of local oversight over land sale can act as a model to be scaled up to the regional or state level, perhaps putting a limit on how much land can be owned by foreigners within a certain territory. Similar policies exist in Brazil (Hage et al. 2012; Perrone 2013). Politically, it could be framed in nationalistic terms of maintaining control over the region’s most profitable industry. However, the implementation of such a policy runs up against a broader obstacle, distrust, and perceived corruption within state government.

Protection of small- and medium-sized production remains important; however, large-scale production cannot be forgone entirely. As demand climbs, closely regulated intensification should be accommodated in order to prevent further deforestation from expansion of avocado cultivation. Methods of sustainable intensification (i.e., aiming for hyper-efficient application of inputs like pesticides, fertilizer, and irrigation) should be used to minimize environmental impact (Cassman and Grassini 2020). Lessons may be adapted from Brazil’s Soy Moratorium, where, although enforcement was imperfect and indirect deforestation occurred, moderate success was achieved by targeting a few traders that exerted large influence on the entire soy industry in Brazil (Gibbs et al. 2015). This was possible because only eight companies control more than half of the processing and export of soybeans worldwide (Lambin et al. 2020). Those companies, under pressure from NGOs such as Greenpeace, pledged to purchase soybeans only from farmers who did not deforest their properties after 2006. Similarly, the supply chain of avocado (i.e., traders, supermarkets, and consumers) will have to support more sustainable practices, and certain efforts could be focused on the largest avocado producers.

Unlike with soybeans, the avocado supply chain is not very transparent. An obstacle to implementing a policy similar to the Soy Moratorium is that it would require a clearer understanding of the supply chain in order to properly target action. Furthermore, an important aspect of the Soy Moratorium’s success was the cross-sectoral collaboration between private firms, Brazilian government, and NGOs, driven by international pressure from Greenpeace (Gibbs et al. 2015). A similar coalition would be needed to implement a comparable strategy with avocado. Recent international criticism of the avocado industry (Larmer 2018; Grillo 2020) focuses on environmental degradation, as well as the social consequences of narco presence in the industry. This type of international pressure suggests the possibility of a coalition between NGOs, government, and avocado growers, as the latter two are vested in preserving a strong international market for Mexican avocados. Yet, even if such a coalition were to form, finding solutions is complicated since policies looking to limit narco involvement in the avocado supply chain could have violent consequences. This aspect of the Michoacán context forces governments and growers to walk a tightrope in figuring out how to fight narco influence without causing additional violence and turning off international consumers.

Changes could also be made on the consumer side of the avocado supply chain. Modern global commodity production relies on the displacement and abstraction of commodities to blind consumers to the processes and places of production (Castree 2003; Greenberg et al. 2012). This process facilitates commodity consumption by reducing complexity of decision-making and ensuring a predictable, standardized product for consumers, but it creates distorted economic markets, where environmental and social costs are externalized, making the costs of commodities low for consumers but high for producers (Gudynas 2015).

In addition to erasing certain costs of production, the processes of abstraction and displacement also make it so that some environmental advantages of production are not realized. Abstracting commodities into a singular class of products erases exceptional environmental specialization, like, for example, high-quality coffee that is harvested in a remote montane region. Fortunately, for products like coffee, niche markets have emerged to realize value of differentiated products. Niche markets actively work against the displacement and abstraction of commodities, and they can work to incentivize better social and environmental conditions of production by providing a price premium. For example, ethnic minority communities in the Golden Triangle region of China, Laos, and Thailand grow forest tea using traditional cultivation methods that allow forest vegetation to remain intact, resulting in fewer negative impacts than intensive tea plantations (Menzies 2014). Fortunately, niche markets for forest tea have emerged that value the production process and pay a premium for the high-quality tea that results. The niche market for forest tea allows these forest communities to earn income while promoting more sustainable use of land (Menzies 2014).

Niche markets have not emerged for avocado in the same way they have for forest tea (Menzies 2014) or Ecuadorian cacao (Rueda et al. 2018). Yet, smaller markets for organic and fair-trade avocados do exist. Bolstering demand for these products (and the subsequent price premiums they bring) would incentivize better production practices among producers. The creation of an independent eco-label for avocados would work to further this effect in the global market. There are various types of eco-certification programs after which an avocado certification could be modeled, including environmental NGO-led programs, e.g., the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), industry-led programs, e.g., the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), and government-led programs, e.g., US Department of Agriculture Organic certification (Li and van’t Veld 2015). The forestry industry is often studied for having one of the most established certification systems, and as such, it provides insights as to how effective certification may be achieved for avocado. In forestry, studies have found that environmental standards are stricter when set by outside, environmental groups, such as with FSC, rather than by industry groups, such as SFI. Yet, industry-led groups may work to get more buy-in from firms that would be otherwise uninterested in the environmental objectives (Cashore et al. 2004).

Alternatively, existing eco-labels that are applied to other crops, such as Rainforest Alliance certification, could be applied to avocado. Market-based interventions are controversial, but eco-labeling can have moderate success. Melo and Wolf (2005) compared certified and non-certified banana farms in Ecuador and found that certified farms performed better across multiple standards of environmental risk reduction, implying that certification could work to mitigate environmental harm. Certification is especially useful in regions where governmental regulation enforcement is low, but since it only applies to a minority of producers (i.e., niche market) it cannot replace government standards altogether (Melo and Wolf 2005). Standards set by importing governments, and subsequent penalties for violation, can be effective in implementing labor or environmental protections in export-oriented production, but such good practices cannot be assumed to be the same for domestic production, if national regulation is not present (Galt 2014).

Conclusions

Global consumption of avocado has increased drastically in the U.S. and Europe in the past 20 years, and this has caused land change for the expansion of avocado production. Michoacán, México is the region with the world’s largest production of avocados, but the socioecological system driven by the avocado market is far from simple (see Table 3). There is a high potential for negative environmental impacts: land use change in Michoacán for the expansion of avocado production comes with the loss of native oak-pine forests and the ecosystem services they provide (carbon sequestration, hydrological regulation, and biodiversity). In addition to ecological complexity, the socioeconomic situation surrounding avocado production is complicated. Smallholder avocado producers are struggling to compete with large holders, who are often foreign to Michoacán, with capital coming from México City or the United States.

Table 3.

Human-environmental impacts of avocado. There are numerous environmental and socioeconomic impacts of expanding avocado production in Michoacán

Environmental impacts	Socioeconomic impacts
Deforestation Forest fragmentation Biodiversity loss Soil health degradation Water scarcity Ecosystem carbon loss	Job creation Decreased out-migration Decreased poverty Inequity of poverty Hegemony of elite growers Narco presence and extortion

But, in a landscape that historically is largely agricultural, avocado tree orchards may be more ecologically friendly than other crop systems, like those for berries (which grow under plastic greenhouses) or maize. This raises the question: does land use for avocado production present opportunities for compromise between economic growth and ecological conservation? Similar win–win situations have been explored with shade-grown coffee production systems (Jha et al. 2011). Future research should focus on how to incorporate and incentivize ecosystem service protection within avocado production systems. This must include measuring effectiveness of practices in promoting ecosystem services, as well as understanding how to best implement such practices given the social and political context for producers. Building off such research, policy makers could focus on implementing ecological best practices in orchards, protecting smallholder producers, and developing niche markets that would increase consumer awareness.

Opportunities exist for cross-sectoral cooperation between public policy, economic markets, and environmental conservation groups. Current global avocado chains utilize one variety, Hass, which is tough-skinned and small, making it apt for transportation, handling, and packaging. However, informed consumers may well begin to demand the numerous other tastier and larger varietals. In turn, eco-certification programs could not only promote sustainable orchard production but could link to the in situ and ex situ genetic concerns involved through breeding programs and the conservation of habitat of wild avocado relatives. Those habitats include the native bees and vertebrates involved in the pollination and seed dispersal, respectively, of wild Persea species. In Michoacán, interest in conservation of the migratory monarch butterfly’s fir-dominated forests could be linked with nascent efforts to protect a representative sample of the other types of oak- and pine-dominated forests that are directly threatened by the avocado frontier. Similar efforts could be crafted for the montane areas of México and Central America, perhaps funded by some percentage of earnings coming from the sale of avocados.

Moreover, sustainability improvements for avocado production are not limited to Michoacán. In other Latin American countries, like Peru and Chile, highly capitalized firms are expanding intensive avocado production, and they are eager to capitalize on a bad harvest year in México by increasing exports to the United States. For now, México continues to hold on to an advantage in the U.S. market since proximity pushes the price of transport down, but South American production competes for the European market (a market which tends to put more value on organic and fair-trade production, which is favorable to growers). Looking to the future, all producers will be vying for the Chinese market, which is small presently, but growing steadily. However, Chinese firms are already trying to figure out how to grow avocados in parts of southeast Asia, meaning Latin America may eventually get squeezed out of the Chinese market altogether. As avocado cultivation expands in México and across the world, lessons learned in Michoacán should be used to create sustainable systems of production.

Supplementary information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Biographies

Audrey Denvir

is a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include human–environment interactions and how commodity chains and deforestation affect ecosystem services.

Eugenio Y. Arima

is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include human-environmental interactions and understanding the motivations that drive humans to transform landscapes and how that manifests spatially in terms of patterns.

Antonio González-Rodríguez

is a Senior Researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad (IIES) at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). His research interests include integrating aspects of population genetics, phylogeography, genomics, and ecology, to understand and develop predictive models of the effects of human disturbances on various species, especially trees of the Mexican temperate forests.

Kenneth R. Young

is a Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include linking biogeography and landscape ecology to questions of ecosystem dynamics and aspects of global environmental and socioeconomic change.