Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, m you said you see, I ah see. Welcome
(00:16):
back to point of origin. This week, we're discussing a
well known fruit that in the last couple of decades
has boomed in popularity and demand, in part due to
its association as a healthy food. It's the hoss avocado,
also known as green gold. And the man you just
heard is Saul an Zura's Mendoza, a hass avocado farmer
(00:39):
in the central Mexican state of Mortlos. Mendoza story and
the story of many Mexican avocado farmers like him, comes
to us from wet Stone Magazine six contributor and journalist
Megan Fry. Megan, in addition to her work as a journalist,
(01:02):
is also a photographer and translator, spent time in Morelos
learning about and from the farming community. They're discovering what
makes the hass avocados so desirable, both for consumers and producers.
She also tells us about the hassas darker underbelly, it's
ties to drug cartels and the environmental havoc it's rereaking
(01:25):
on indigenous lands. Megan, can you take us to Modelos
and give us a bit of history about the variety
of avocado and also why it's so prevalent here in
the States. Sure. Yeah, it was actually hers cultivated in California,
(01:50):
just outside of Los Angeles by a gentleman named Rudolph
Hass in nine. He was growing experimenting with growing avocado
tree um and his property and he made a blend,
a mix between a Mexican variety and a Guatemalan variety,
(02:12):
and it ended up having a lot of really great qualities,
which is why we see so many of them today.
The patent was put on it in ve and it
started to become you know, widely cultivated back in the
nineteen sixties. So the Hass avocado is the most widely
(02:35):
and um in terms of numbers as well um cultivated
variety of avocado in the world. Um, because it's grown
everywhere now from Mexico to Peru to Indonesia and um. Basically,
what makes the Hass avocado is so attractive is the
(02:56):
fact that it can be plucked from a tree and
when it's not ripe yet, and it will ripen but
over the course of three weeks to a month, so
it has quite a long period that it can be
sitting in a truck or sitting on a boat. UM.
(03:17):
I say a boat because Japan is a major UM
importer of avocados as well UM from Mexico, and so
it has that quality where other UM more endemic and
not genetically modified in any any way, not messed with
in any way. Avocados UM don't have that quality of
(03:40):
having such a thick skin. UM. You know, they could
maybe be plucked from a tree and you've got three
to five days, maybe a week, UM that until you
have to eat it or else it goes to waste.
The other issue as well is UM that some of
them have such a thin skin, especially what they call
(04:02):
the um the creole or the creole um mixed avocado UM,
that they actually eat the skin it's so thin. The
other varieties, while tastier, have thinner skin and therefore less
shelf life. Given their reduced monetary value, most varieties of
(04:25):
avocados are going uncultivated and largely ignored. And so this
sounds basically like many monocropt plants here in the US,
like the cavendish banana, or like the you know, red
delicious apple. We see that these varieties are developed primarily
(04:50):
for their ability to last a long time. On the
shelves or in this case, off the vine. So it
sounds like that's kind of the the same history with
the hass avocado, right, Yes, absolutely, that is what makes
it so attractive because there are dozens of varieties of avocado,
(05:10):
and there are some that are crossbread that are being
sold today as well. But um, there's a lot of
varieties in especially the Central Mexico into southeastern Mexico that
are tastier than than the hass avocado. They have a
more creamy texture and they are widely used in different
(05:34):
aspects of the cuisine. But as far as you know,
getting an avocado from you know, Central Mexico up to Canada,
the hass is the one that will make the trip.
In Mexico, the point of origin of the avocado, in
(05:57):
the place from where more than of the sold in
the United States emanate. There are twenty varieties of avocados,
but in supermarkets throughout the US we only see one type,
the Hoss variety. Hass avocados are prized for their adorability
and because they mature off the vine, meaning that you
(06:18):
can pick a Hoss avocado in Mexico and eat it
a month later in Canada. So subsequently, because of all
of the desirable characteristics in the marketplace for this avocado,
your story leads us into kind of a darker underbelly
(06:42):
around this industry because of all of the money that's involved.
So can you help us understand what some of the
dynamics are behind the scenes. First, I'd like to say
that about of Mexico's avocados that they export go to
(07:02):
the United States, and that number, the number in terms
of the amount of money that that export was worth
in two thousand and seventeen was about three billion dollars.
So we're talking about quite a lot of money for
a particular crop. So what we've seen in in places
(07:24):
in Mexico, the state that produces the largest quantity of
avocados and specifically hostperiety avocados, we have seen that just
as as if it were any other cash crop, it
tends to attract the attention of people who you know,
(07:45):
are corrupt or have nefarious activities going on there. There
have been a lot of reports and The Guardian did
a really good report on this couple of years ago
about um the green gold is what they call the
avocado umo verde, and they call it that metrocon because
(08:11):
it's worth so much money that it has attracted the
criminal element into its production, and there have been cases
of extortion of farms um, of kidnappings and even murder
um in order for people to gain control and power
(08:32):
of those farms. There's also been a lot of deforestation
um all in a lot of different parts of Mexico
in order to um to plant avocado trees, specifically hot
avocado trees, because they have so much more value, at
(08:52):
least to the people who's interested is in that monetary
value than the pine trees or other um species of
flora that may inhabit those mountains, the mountainous regions where
they grow so well, getting into the darker side of
the avocado trade and um. The government and the Mexican
(09:16):
government has had a role in that in that they
support you know, this monoculture of the hassa avocado by
coming to places such as they did in Morelos and
Michua kahn Um. Again the hassa avocado was created in California,
but coming and saying okay, this is going to be
(09:38):
your crop. And one could argue that that has good
intentions behind it. I mean, these are you know, people
who are living in the countryside, who are often quite
removed from different types of services, education, um, different types
of jobs. You know. So this is certainly you know,
in in regions such as Morelos, where they've been growing
(10:02):
figs and peaches and other crops apples, for example, Um,
the avocado, specifically the hassa avocado, does you know, net
them a lot more money than they would um working
their land and selling peaches in the local market. This
(10:28):
green gold rush feels like something that's a lot more contemporary.
Was there a tipping point in which maybe in consumer
behavior or the export market or pricing that that really
changed things with the hassa avocado. I've been told by
professor at UNAM down in Mexico City that not to
(10:53):
had a lot to do with it. Um that opening
of you know, the borders in the sense of for trade.
So we're talking about the mid nineties. Yeah, so there's
the opening of the door, will say, with NAFTA, And
and then there's this consumer you know, supply and demand.
(11:14):
Obviously there's there's a lot of people who are traditionally
you know, maybe people who have Mexican heritage who are
accustomed to avocados you know, being part of their their
traditional foods. So they started to be you know, more
available in in different parts of the United States and
(11:35):
then throughout the world. So, um, you go to Japan
today and you find avocado in the maki roles, and
that was not always the case. So we're talking mostly
about the avocado fever as they call it in Morelos
starting around two thousand three, and that's when the government
came and said, Okay, this is what you're going to
be growing, and we're willing to buy back some of
(11:58):
the land that was granted two indigenous communities following the
Mexican Revolution and its subsequent agrarian reform, So that now
we're talking about the twenties and the thirties, but specifically
the nineteen thirties, and so there's actually a process of
buying back of that land, of the communal land. When
(12:24):
the trade agreement between Mexico, the US, and Canada opened,
a heightened demand for the hass avocado ensued. The Mexican
government began encroaching into the agricultural sector and making deals
with farmers that granted them fixed rates in exchange for
planting avocados. Slowly, more farmers began converting into avocado farms.
(12:51):
It is really interesting that the patent came around the
same time as the Mexican Congress passed the bills to
be able to buy back some of that land. So yeah,
we're talking about the Mexican Revolution, which lasts approximately ten
years nineteen ninety UM. A big focus so that was
(13:12):
peasant rights. People had been working on major Acienda's major
estates and plantations that were primarily owned by whether you want,
whether they were colonizers originally or families of colonizers or settlers.
So the idea was to give the land back to
the people, and that did happen. But Mexico is, um
(13:34):
like we all, like most of us, are a capitalist society.
So the money spoke a little bit more than the
land in in certain places. So for them, it has
allowed them to have a lot more of finances, and
some of them don't. I mean, there are these communal
(13:55):
lands and then there's people who have property right behind
their houses and they you know, have their avocados there.
They consider themselves avocado farmers. Whether they you know, whatever
is going to sell and whatever they can use, that
is what they will cultivate. They learn quite quickly how
to work with it. And actually I was told by
some people in Quijotengo that in other communities, like the
(14:19):
community leaders have sent some of the farmers two to
study avocado um how to mix essentially, how to make
a hybrid avocado, and and they're working on that too,
you know, create different varieties um like such as the
Mendez and the Humenez. So it's it's work these people
(14:42):
are working and with the development of these other cross
breeds of avocado be done as a way to compete
with the has so has avocados they can pollinate themselves,
(15:03):
but it works much better and creates a much stronger
crop if they are cross pollinated with other varieties of avocados.
So the idea they they you'll find in most places
where they um have where it's an avocado zone as
they would call it, they have a lot of hass
(15:24):
avocados because that's what makes money, but they'll also have
these different varieties of of avocados because it makes for
stronger crop. And so I think that the idea behind
that of creating these like cross hybrid you know, in
that region is they're looking for something that will be
comparable to the hass avocado, but will also benefit all
(15:46):
of the avocado trees just in case there's a plague,
just in case there's you know, different types of fungus
hassa avocados are the tree itself is much more susceptible
to um plagues and UM, when I say that, I'm
speaking mostly of like insects. So what they do in
a lot of places is actually use the trunk of
(16:11):
a different type of pandemic avocado, which is stronger and
more resistant to whatever nature may bring its way, whether
it's a drought or UM cold or um some kind
of epidemic, and then they will use that as a
root stock to grow a hass avocado tree out of that.
(16:42):
So I want to ask you about some of the
other players behind the scenes in this story, um, And
one of the shadow elements that you alluded to earlier
has to do with the narco. So at what point
did the the kidnappings and the extortion and the you know,
(17:03):
claiming of property begin? And UM, who has that conflict
been between Yeah, that that conflict has mostly been UM
affecting the state of Michoacan. The state of Michuacan has
really just absolutely ideal conditions for avocados. It does not
(17:27):
get too cold as it does in certain places more
around Mexico City because of elevation, UM it has really
fertile soil. There's a lot of dormant volcanoes there. So
the people who have been you know, who have these
territories and you know, communal land or specifically even communities themselves.
(17:48):
Along with heroin, which is you know, a major cash
crop um where poppies excuse me, you know um which
become which are used for heroin. The avocado is also
worth a lot of money. So it has affected a
(18:11):
lot of people by having organized crime come into their
communities and take over their farms, their avocado farms. So
they are basically they're taking the money and the livelihood
of the people and kind of forcing their kind of
keeping them in some ways hostage on their land so
(18:34):
that they're working at but they are there and they're
the ones that are making the profit on it, and
they've done so in in violent, in violent ways in
many cases, UM to the point where there's actually vigilante
groups who um protect their own crops and they're armed.
(18:55):
They're armed vigilantees just trying to make sure that their
cross stay in their hands and that they are actually
making some money off of it. Really organized crime and cartels,
and call them narcos because it typically deal with UM,
you know, illicit substances. They are involved in all kinds
(19:17):
of things. UM. They're involved in human trafficking, They're involved
in UM anything from even trash removal and pickup. UM.
There's a lot of money in trash. So it's the
way that Mexico is set up with its corruption, which
has been going on for a long time, UM you know,
(19:37):
has has given way for people to operate like this.
Going back to the drug war in Mexico, this is
like the early two thousands, around the time of the
avocado boom, UM, the war on drugs in Mexico, and
it has caused in some places a lot of UM
violence and a lot of war. Whether we're dealing with
(19:57):
poppies UM or or whether we're dealing with avocados. I
think most people that you would talk to in Mexico
would tell you that whether you're talking about the military
or the police, or the government and the narcos, they're
all the same and UM. A number of presidents have
(20:18):
been accused of having ties with cartels UM, and obviously
they're the ones who are who would be in charge
of a war on drugs. The real battle of Mexico
right now is corruption is a major major concern and
it has touched the avocado in in ways that are
quite interesting. Whether it's whether it's heroin or whether it's avocados.
(20:42):
It's useful, it's brings in a lot of money, and
so people want to control it. Yeah, because this is
I mean in terms of a lot of money. We're
talking about a two billion dollar export business just for
avocados alone. Yeah, and just to do just to the
(21:02):
United States, just the US, Yeah, at least two billion.
And so for these farmers, even though historically avocado has
been a part of their diet, they're presumably not eating
these hass avocados because they are so valuable. Because on
(21:24):
the one hand, there is this really valuable crop that
that they're growing, but on the other hand, there are
all these other factions which are hugely complicating their lives
with the government, with the cartels. How are the farmers
in places like Mitua con navigating making a living and
also um, all of the things that they're having to
(21:47):
struggle against as well. With the farmers that I spoke to.
Some of them were flat out, no, we don't eat
this product because it is so valuable. Why would we
eat our most valuable products. And others are a little
bit more lax about it, and they will eat them.
But for them, you know, this is it's it really
is how they make their money. Um, they don't grow
(22:10):
peaches anymore. UM. You know, they've they've switched completely. So
a day in the life. UM. You know, it's interesting
because the in in waihotel Ango, the farmers that I
spoke with and then I spent time with, have told
me very clearly that there UM quality of life has
improved dramatically in the village. And these are in some cases,
(22:32):
these are areas that were impacted by UM, the seven
point one magnitude earthquake that hit not far from there
in September of two thousand and seventeen, UM that caused
a variety of UM disasters. People are actually reconstructing their
homes in some of these places. They have hopes that
(22:53):
their children will go to college. And these are things
that twenty years ago before, you know, right before the
avocado fever hit this particular village, it wasn't really something
that people had as a realistic expectation. So there's an
increase to medical care, there's an increase to being able
(23:19):
to somebody at least that you know has a car.
So that has changed a lot of things, as you
can imagine, um, new roads, paved roads, um, that kind
of thing. So as far as the daily life, I
mean right now there are some people who are repairing
(23:41):
their homes and other members of the family are, you know,
working with the crops. If it's a good year, there's
not a lot that you have to do with the
crops at all, you know. And by good year, I
mean if there's enough rain and and that isn't a
concern in in a lot of places in the world,
and especially it really is in Mexico and Central Mexico. Um.
(24:06):
So I think people have a quiet pace of life
in in in these communities. Yes, okay. In fact, I
(24:40):
remember that the house also used to be worth the
same as the fourth day eight pasos when it began,
and then they gave it more value when they started
exporting it. I remember when we were behind in a
lot of ways. But yes, I have seen the improvement. O.
(25:02):
We see still some of these places are quite remote, UM,
or at least were remote until they started to put
in more highways, you know. And and this is something
that happened in basically between the seventies UM up until
more recently in the early two thousand's. You know, these
(25:24):
were communities that um you know, in order to get
something to market, they would have to travel for days,
you know, a couple of days. New Mexico operates at
least informal economy. What what happens a lot is that
people will come from different places. So the city of Puebla,
(25:45):
the city of Cornavaca, the city of Mexico city UM
into this these particular parts of um Morelos and I'm
sure the same as in Metro kan and and Guerrero
and and others. Dates that our avocado producers they come
from the city and they offer a price and UM
(26:06):
and then they take that back into to market. And
you know, I asked about that, and you know, they
said the farmers. You know, I'm like, do you feel
like you're getting a fair shake? And they said that,
you know, essentially yes, because they're selling their avocados for
more than they were ever worth in the past. And
(26:27):
it's three hours to get into Mexico City, you know,
from there, and that's gas money, you know, and that's time.
So they end up selling them, you know, to a
third party that comes by and either takes them to
um ah an export business like a packing um facility
(26:49):
which is nearby. Actually, you mentioned earlier that some farmers
are beginning to cross breed new varieties. Is there a
desire to want to return to some native varieties of avocado,
both for preservation of culture but also preservation of those
(27:14):
varieties and not least of which, preservation of land and environment.
As I know, a lot of land is um being
deforcedd to to plant avocado trees. So is there a
return to or promotion of indigenous varieties. I think from
(27:36):
the farmers themselves you would get different answers. Definitely, there's
a respect for the avocados that they have grown up with,
that their family has, you know, specific recipes for that
they know taste better than the hosta does. There is
a major concern regarding um climate change. There are a
(27:57):
lot of forest fires in Mexico this year which really
impacted the presence of pollinators with the smoke. Mexico City
had a you know, a climate and a climate emergency
because of it. So there's definitely the desire to keep
those avocados because they are beneficial two all crops, I mean,
(28:21):
having the biodiversity, having that, having that diversity and not
just a monoculture is really beneficial. I I think probably
what you would see what I see more of um
as Mexico City and Wahaca another city to mention, become
more popular with international tourists and as the Mexican middle
(28:42):
class and upper class kind of lower upper class I
should say, kind of expand there's a desire to get
in touch with that. And you'll find, you know, if
you go to, yeah, a restaurant in in Wahaca or
Mexico City that kind of prides itself on being like
ancestral cuisine. You're not going to see hot sa avocados,
(29:02):
no way. And maybe they're in there somewhere, you know,
but they that's not going to be on the menu.
So there's definitely an interest in the preservation. Whether that
will extend outside of Mexico for you know, again talking
about like transportation, you know, logistics and that reality behind
that that's yet to be seen. I think but a
(29:23):
lot of things that can be grown in Mexico can
also be grown in parts of the United States. Um
so it would be really interesting, you know, to see
if that, if if that interest in different types of
varieties of avocados extend into the United States. It's possible,
but it's it's not that common, you know. We have
to remember Mexico is a very diverse country in terms
(29:47):
of rural versus urban and in terms of the different
groups of people who live there and and have called
at home for millennia. Species the Persa genus has several species.
(30:10):
All the species are American and in fact fundamentally Mesoamerican.
The avocado boom means eleven billion pounds are consumed annually worldwide.
The fact that so much money is involved in the
exportation of avocados has led to a number of documented
(30:31):
perils in Mexican society. Among them, drug traffickers have taken
over avocado farms, extorted farmers, kidnapping and in some cases
even murdering them. Forest in Mexico have been upended to
plant avocado trees, and a disproportionately large demand for avocados
is creating a climate change effect. Forest lands with diverse
(30:54):
wildlife have been destroyed to produce avocados, and many more
were intentionally burned to buy pass of Mexican law allowing
producers to change the land use permit to commercial agriculture
instead of forest land if it were lost to burning.
This is all a lot to absorb. I mean, we
(31:16):
love avocados, but learning about the history and the contemporary
challenges can be a little bit disorienting. Our diets demand
for those who are able, that we make choices that
center not only our desires but also our obligations. Are
there avocados near you can weakly indulgences become quarterly or
(31:38):
even annual ones, or for that matter, is a daily indulgence,
even an indulgence at all. Increasingly it is evident that
our governments cannot be trusted to protect the best interests
of anything other than the highest bid. Climate, labor and
cleptocracy are unhappily coexisting, and like many areas of our life,
(32:00):
of individuals will have to occupy the space of government.
Provenance must be part of our politics, and sometimes so
to restraint. I'd like to thank our guest today, Megan
(32:20):
Fry Alfredo Gutierrez Martinez, lev Orlando Hard Doom, Barboria Salo
Azores Mendoza and the entire community of farmers and Morelos.
You can read Megan Fry's story and volume six of
wet Stone, or learn more on Instagram at wet Stone Magazine.
(32:41):
We'll be back next week. We'd also like to thank
our incredible podcast producer Selene Glazier. Selene, you are the best.
To our editor and wet Stone partner and director of
video David Alexander in London, appreciate you, Dave. Thanks to
our wet Stone production intern Quentin le Beau, and last
(33:03):
but not least, my business partner Mel she who makes
all things at Whetstone possible. Thank you Mel. We'd also
like to thank our partners and production at I Heart
Radio to Gabrielle Collins, our supervising producer and executive producer
Christopher Haciotis. We'll be back next week with more from
(33:23):
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(33:46):
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