Rotten: The Avocado War

October 9, 2019 11:17 PM - Season 2, Episode 1

The avocado's rise from culinary fad to must-have superfood has made it a lucrative crop - and a magnet for money-hungry cartels.
posted by lesser weasel (1 comment total)

This episode was fascinating and hard to watch. I love avocados, and though I don't get to eat them often, learning the conditions surrounding the entire industry was truly eye-opening. Just... man, I hated seeing those Chilean farms completely dried up because the local avocado farmers purchase more rights to water than they could. 18 gallons of water to grow one avocado! Good god. Why are we growing them in arid environments, again?

There's so many problems surrounding the cultivation of this fruit, and like the episode said, there's no easy solution. Smaller farms (and whole towns, like Tancítaro) in Mexico and Chile depend on the avocado exportation, so boycotting them completely would devastate some local economies. Harder to feel sorry for the farmers in California growing hundreds of acres of avocados, though.

I'm really grateful to this series for informing me on things I had no knowledge of otherwise.
posted by lesser weasel at 11:29 PM on October 9, 2019 [2 favorites]