• The avocado nail means 11 billion pounds are consumed annually worldwide.

• Intensive production in Michoacán state, Mexico has caused surroundings damage on multiple fronts.

• The avocado supply chain desperately needs international monitoring and standards.

Mayhap you start your twenty-four hours with an avocado toast, then y'all have an avocado salad for luncheon, and you lot finish your twenty-four hour period with some guacamole in your dinner. The delicious and nutritious fruit has gained immense popularity over the last years, linked to a healthy lifestyle. But the underlying truth is tough: Avocado product carries enormous ecology costs that you are probably not enlightened of.

Mexico produces more than avocado than anywhere in the earth, but the "dark-green golden", equally it is known, is consumed mainly in N America, Europe and Asia. Each year, 11 billion pounds of avocado are consumed around the world. A few weeks ago, every half-dozen minutes, a truck full of avocados was leaving the Mexican country of Michoacán for export to the USA in grooming for the most of import engagement for avocado producers in the year: the Super Bowl, which sees vii% of the annual avocado consumption in only one day.

Top avocado importing countries, 2018

Superlative avocado importing countries, 2018

Image: Hass Avocado Board

Michoacán produces viii out of 10 Mexican avocados and five out of ten avocados produced globally. Avocado farming in the state has a land production size equivalent of 196,000 football fields; its regional economy is strongly dependent on a product with a market value of around $2.five billion a year.

Until ii decades ago, US buyers did not take access to Mexican avocado. The United states of america government maintained a ban on imports for 87 years because it was considered to represent a adventure to agriculture. In 1997, Michoacán was alleged free of the tapping worm, and the massive consign of avocado began. Exports were highly benefited by the N America Free Merchandise Agreement (NAFTA); by 2005, Mexican avocado was all over the supermarkets in the United states, currently the near important market in the planet for the fruit. Consumption in the United states more than than doubled in only 10 years. "Avocados from Mexico" was the offset brand in the agronomical sector to pay for a television commercial in the Super Basin.

Hass avocado sales in the US by year

Hass avocado sales in the US by twelvemonth

Image: Hass avocado board

Despite this massive creation of value and success, extensive avocado production has substantial and irretrievable ecology costs and damages. Unduly huge need for the fruit is creating a climatic change effect. Forest lands with diverse wildlife have been destroyed to produce avocado, and many more than were intentionally burned to bypass a Mexican law allowing producers to alter the country-use permit to commercial agronomics instead of forest land, if information technology was lost to called-for.

US imports by quarter

United states of america imports by quarter

Image: Hass Avocado Board

Shrubs and old copse are ofttimes taken down to provide avocado copse greater sunlight, contributing to deforestation and consequently to global warming and climate change. Currently, in Michoacán's avocado-producing surface area, at that place has been an increment in temperature and erratic rainstorms. Research by the National Autonomous University of Mexico Campus Morelia identified that the state has a new tendency to be increasingly hot and dry, with less intense common cold seasons necessary to maintain the environmental balance, and extended farthermost hot seasons with increased irregular rainfall and greater whirlwind strength. The loss of wood comprehend and other climate changes means the rate of arrival of the Monarch butterfly to Michoacán has also dropped.

Around 9.five billion litres of water are used daily to produce avocado – equivalent to 3,800 Olympic pools – requiring a massive extraction of h2o from Michoacán aquifers. Excessive extraction of water from these aquifers is having unexpected consequences, such equally causing modest earthquakes. From 5 Jan to 15 Feb, iii,247 seismic movements were recorded in Uruapan municipality and environs, the well-nigh of import avocado-producing area in the world. According to local government, avocado-related water extraction has opened up subsoil caverns that could be causing these movements.

Small earthquake activity in the avocado crop region

Small earthquake activity in the avocado crop region

Image: Sismologico Nacional de Mexico

1 hectare of avocado with 156 trees consumes ane.half-dozen times more than a wood with 677 trees per hectare. When avocado trees are irrigated, because their roots are rather horizontal, the menstruation through preferential infiltration is less and makes information technology difficult for the water to seep into the subsoil; fourteen times less compared to the pine tree. A study conducted by Carbon Footprint Ltd affirms a small pack of two avocados has an emissions footprint of 846.36g CO2, nigh twice the size of i kilo of bananas (480g CO2) and three times the size of a large cappuccino with regular cow milk (235g CO2).

Intensive avocado production has caused biodiversity loss, extreme conditions conditions, extensive soil degradation of the soil and is on the brink of causing an entirely human-made environmental disaster.

Deforestation for avocado farming

Deforestation for avocado farming

Epitome: LA Times

As we develop multistakeholder capitalism, we urgently need to start thinking about the origin of our foods and to create more sustainable consumption food chains. Awareness of the ecology touch on of what we consume is the commencement step to reducing the climate impact of our nutrient. The avocado situation makes it apparently that not only meat is imposing a heavy environmental toll.

Despite all this, at that place are some solutions to reducing avocado'due south environmental impact. Firstly, we need to demand equally consumers an international certification of sustainable farming and off-white trade for the avocados sold in supermarkets and stores – to ensure they are not the product of deforestation, organized criminal offense, or indiscriminate exploitation of aquifers.

Secondly, trade agreements need to include the environmental impact in their clauses related to exports. Consumption in one state should not be at the price of destroying the origin state. Mexico as well needs to change its law to prevent and punish the burning of forest land for avocado production.

Food

What is the World Economical Forum doing to help ensure global food security?

Two billion people in the world currently suffer from malnutrition and according to some estimates, nosotros need 60% more nutrient to feed the global population by 2050. Nonetheless the agronomical sector is sick-equipped to meet this demand: 700 million of its workers currently live in poverty, and information technology is already responsible for seventy% of the world's water consumption and 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

New technologies could help our nutrient systems become more sustainable and efficient, but unfortunately the agricultural sector has fallen behind other sectors in terms of technology adoption.

Launched in 2018, the Forum'southward Innovation with a Purpose Platform is a big-scale partnership that facilitates the adoption of new technologies and other innovations to transform the way nosotros produce, distribute and consume our food.

With inquiry, increasing investments in new agriculture technologies and the integration of local and regional initiatives aimed at enhancing food security, the platform is working with over 50 partner institutions and ane,000 leaders effectually the world to leverage emerging technologies to make our food systems more sustainable, inclusive and efficient.

Learn more about Innovation with a Purpose'south impact and contact us to meet how you can get involved.

Finally, if any of this does non happen, we need to rethink our nutrition and lifestyle trends and reduce the consumption of avocado to minimise our personal contribution to the environmental impact caused by "green gilded". We alive a global and fully integrated planet where what you happily eat with your friends and family while watching sports could be destroying entire ecosystems. This will bear on you in the long run – call back about this the side by side fourth dimension you're eating your guacamole and tortilla chips.