Avocado Farms Aren’t Sustainable Now, but They Could Be

image via New Scientist

May 30, 2024, 2:00 PM

• •Avocados are marketed as a superfood, but growing them for an expanding world market has turned a rural Mexican state into an unsustainable monoculture.
• •Introducing homogeneous, high-yielding plant varieties leads growers to abandon native crops, which makes the local ecosystem more vulnerable to threats such as pest infestations and reduces food options.
• •Diversifying agriculture in the region and reforesting Michoacán could help to restore the Sierra Purhepecha’s ecology and protect the rural economy.

Avocados are a superfood, but growing them for an expanding world market has turned a rural Mexican state into an unsustainable monoculture. The Hass avocado, the most popular variety worldwide today, was bred in California. Farmers in Michoacán began clearing woodlands, spraying agrochemicals, exhausting aquifers and buying Purhépecha communal property, converting it to smaller, privately owned lots.

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