Avocados are once again being shipped across the Mexican border after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced it had restarted an inspection program in a reportedly crime-ridden state.
APHIS announced Feb. 18 that its avocado inspection program had restarted in Michoacán, on the Pacific coast in southwest Mexico, and that avocado exports to the United States had resumed.
Dr. Mark Davidson, acting deputy administrator of USDA-APHIS' Plant Protection and Quarantine Program
| aphis.usda.gov
"Mexico and the United States will continue working together to fortify the strong bilateral supply chains that promote economic growth and prosperity in both countries," the APHIS announcement said.
USDA is also "working closely" with Mexican governmental bodies and the Association of Avocado Producers and Packers Exporters of Mexico to protect APHIS inspectors working in Michoacán.
APHIS' announcement follows the lifting of a ban on avocado imports into the U.S. after one of its field workers in Michoacán received a threat Feb. 11.
Michoacán is reportedly a violent place controlled largely by criminal gangs that carry out kidnapping and extortion schemes that reach even into local government. This week, as many as 17 mourners attending a funeral wake were lined up against a wall and executed in the village of San José de Gracia in Michoacán, as reported by numerous news sources.
The violence and criminal activity also affect avocado producers in Michoacán, the only Mexican state fully authorized for avocado exports into the United States.
Last year, about $3 billion in avocados were imported into the U.S. from around the world. About $2.8 billion, or 92 percent, of that comes from Mexico, reported the APHIS announcement.
"The popularity of Mexican avocados is undeniable," Dr. Mark Davidson, acting deputy administrator of APHIS' Animal and Health Inspection Services' Plant Protection and Quarantine Program, said in a statement released with the announcement. Davidson also referred to statistics about the popularity of Mexican imported avocados in the U.S., with about 1.1 million metric tons imported last year.
"If we look at 2020 and 2021, approximately 80 percent of the avocados exported from Michoacán were for U.S. markets," Davidson said.
