"In Mexico, avocado suppliers continue sourcing from illegally deforested land", 21 August 2024

...Top suppliers of Mexican avocados continue to work with growers who use land where forests have been cleared illegally, a new investigation shows.

Top suppliers Calavo Growers, Fresh Del Monte Produce, Mission Produce and West Pak Avocado purchased avocados in 2023 and 2024 from illegally deforested land, according to a new investigation from Climate Rights International (CRI), an environmental and human rights group, and Mexican NGO Guardián Forestal...

The investigation looked at Mexican avocado shipping records from 2023 and the first trimester of 2024, finding 60 instances of suppliers buying avocados from deforested land in some of the country’s top producing states, including Michoacán and Jalisco...

Replacing natural forests with avocado can also exacerbate water shortages in an already dry climate. Last year, Mongabay reported on small towns and rural communities whose residents had started relying on water delivered in trucks because surrounding avocado plantations had destroyed natural aquifers...

In February, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar held a press conference in Michoacán with state governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, stressing a commitment to removing avocados grown on illegally deforested land from their exports.

Nevertheless, top suppliers like Calavo Growers, Fresh Del Monte Produce, Mission Produce and West Pak Avocado were all found to have purchased avocados from illegally deforested land on multiple occasions between May 2023 and April 2024.

They supply major supermarket chains like Albertsons, Costco, Kroger, Target, Trader Joe’s, Walmart and Whole Foods.

None of the suppliers responded to a request for comment for this article...