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Your Call

Your Call: How to be a responsible avocado-eater

https://www.vallartadaily.com/living/foodies/deforestation-mexicos-avocado/
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Vallarta Daily

  

There’s a global boom in demand for avocados. In the US, demand nearly doubled between 2010 and 2015.  But supply has gone down, and prices have gone up. The pressure of this market has driven deforestation and water shortages in avocado-growing areas like Michoacan state in Mexico.  

What’s a guacamole lover to do? Does buying California avocados make a difference? Or only eating them in season?  And when is avocado season anyway?  Join the conversation on the next Your Call, with Renee Kemp, and you.

 

Guests:

Edgar González Godoy, general director of Rainforest Alliance México

Marc Bellemare, associate professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota, and director of the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy

Scott Murray, organic avocado grower for Edge of Urban Farm in San Diego County, and president of the South Coast Resource Conservation and Development Council

Web Resources:

Marc Bellemare: Avocadonomics

Scott Murray: Edge of Urban Farm

Ecosystem Marketplace: Taking the Deforestation out of Avocados

Grist: Peak Avocado

Food Tank: Thirst for Avocado Leaves Plantations Dry

LA Times: Warning to avocado lovers: a California shortfall may send prices soaring

OC Register: Avocado shortage: A perfect storm of problems is causing a surge in prices

AP: Mexico: Deforestation for avocados much higher than thought

Independent: Demand for avocados destroying Mexico's pine forests

Civil Eats: Green Gold: Are your Avocados Draining a Community’s Drinking Water?

Michigan State University Extension: Avocado consumption: environmental and social considerations

Stanford News: Stanford researchers seek least destructive balance of agriculture vs. forests