The impact of Super Bowl 2023 on avocado culture in Mexico

In 2022, the season of superbowl has been tainted by the import ban attorney Mexican due to crime, and for this 2023 another threat to the supply has just emerged. It’s a environmental complaintwhich refers to farmers destroying forests that provide essential habitat for monarch butterflies and other creatures.

The dispute was filed by a Mexican before the Commission for Environmental Cooperationa trilateral body that is part of the Treaty between Mexico, UNITED STATES there Canadawhere the Mexican government has been accused of not enforcing its own laws on deforestation, water conservation and land use.

“The Complaint “claims that Mexico does not effectively enforce its environmental laws to protect forest ecosystems and water quality from the negative environmental impacts of avocado production in Michoacán, Mexico.”

The complaint stated that “Mexico does not apply the clauses of the Constitution and various federal laws focused on environmental impact assessment, forest conservation, sustainable development, water quality, climate change and environmental protection”. The letter alleges that the number of orchards certified to export the fruit quadrupled between 2010 and 2021, from 14,181 to 63,559, and that in this western state there are up to 280,000 hectares ( half a million acres). avocado crops.

“This growth has come at the expense of forest land”

The avocado plantations are grown at about the same altitude and with the same climatic conditions as the pine and fir forests of the state of Michoacán, where the butterflies that migrate each year are concentrated.

Farmers often have cut down the forest to plant the avocados that will reach American consumers. Because they hibernate at higher elevations, the butterflies are not directly affected, but the forests surrounding their mountaintop reserves suffer significant consequences.

Julio Santoyo, a member of an environmental group in the town of Villa Madero, Michoacán, pointed out that the activists have suffered kidnappings and threats from groups of illegal loggers, who felled trees to establish unauthorized avocado orchards. In addition to the fact that these plantations require much more water than native pines.

For his part, Santoyo indicated that he does not know who filed the complaint, but that he supports her. “The complaint helps place the problem on a horizon of greater visibility and can influence the generation of environmental standards necessary for its production,” he said.

According to the AP, Villa Madero activists said they regularly encounter strips of forest cleared and irrigation ponds dug to irrigate young avocado trees. And unfortunately at least two environmentalists have been kidnapped, threatened and beaten after complaining about deforestation.

In 2021, Mexico was the deadliest country in the world for environmental and land defense activists with 54 murders, according to an investigation by the NGO Global Witness. Avocado growers are also under threat in Michoacán, where they are often victims of extortion by drug cartels.

According to official data presented by the Association of Producers and Packers-Exporters of Avocados of Mexico (Apeam), Mexican producers in 2023 will send up to 130,000 tons of avocados to the American market for the 57th edition of the Super Bowl. . The State that positions itself as the main exporter of avocados is Michoacan. Well, since January they had already started sending the first 64,101 tons of fruit on the way to the Super Bowl festivities in which the new American football champion in the United States will be crowned.

According to the export company Collecta, the avocado is a product that occurs with two harvest seasons per year. February is the strongest month for plantations, as the natural market demand has a great influence on its production.

Michoacán Governor Alfredo Ramírez was proud of the achievement and pointed out that “in the United States they know it very well: good guacamole is only made from avocados from Mexico, it is not there is no other lawyer in the world with this quality”.

Meanwhile, Apeam President José Luis Gallardo hoped there would be a bigger impact of the avocado on consumer tables in the United States with the biggest party in American football.

Avocados from Mexico are exported to 34 countries around the world, such as France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Although Michoacán and Jalisco stand out for being the only states that can export to countries like the United States, Canada and Japan. However, the Super Bowl is the main occasion when avocados and guacamole are served and prepared, with a range of approximately 30 million football helmets with the Mexican dish.

Figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) indicated that from January to December 2022, the value of agricultural exports amounted to 21 thousand 379 million dollars.

Advertising for avocado consumption in the USA

There Mexican avocado promotion strategy in the Super Bowl has developed various marketing proposals and campaigns to encourage consumption. Available on digital platforms, one of them briefly tells the life of a group of people inside a reservation and they are introduced for the first time to the diet based on avocado, in particular guacamole in various presentations, mainly spread on bread and biscuits. .

Another of the ads that blew up the internet was the one featuring Anna Farris, which takes place in the Garden of Eden, she plays Eve and has a debate with Adam. The young woman tastes a “forbidden” fruit under the motto of “Avocado from Mexico” and suddenly they both appear in New York in the present world.

Another of the most consumed products in the Super Bowl stadium is guacamole and beer. Note that this “green gold” based mixture is already prepared and ready to be served in various supermarkets and stores. Carlos Hermosillo, an analyst specializing in consumption, pointed out that the avocado takes longer to be processed and that more and more companies are betting on exporting it in this way.

(With information from ECE there PA)