Meet the Family Farmer Growing Your Avocados

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 19, 2024 / TriplePundit
By Mary Riddle

Originally published by TriplePundit

Avocado trees are native to southern Mexico, where they grew as wild cultivars for thousands of years before the Aztec and Maya people began growing the crop domestically. Today, avocado production is an economic powerhouse for the region.

The avocado industry has enjoyed record-breaking growth in recent years, and per-capita consumption in the U.S. has steadily climbed, as well as avocado imports from Mexico. The dramatic growth in avocado imports has been good for the U.S. economy, according to a report from researchers at Texas A&M University's Agribusiness Food and Consumer Economics Research Center in partnership with Avocados From Mexico. In fiscal year 2021-2022, U.S. imports of Mexican Hass avocados added $6.1 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product and created 58,299 jobs. On the Mexican side of the border, hundreds of thousands of people earn their living from the prized fruit.

Michoacán, a Mexican state on the western coast, is at the heart of the country's avocado sector and produces 73 percent of all avocados grown in Mexico. It is also where Martin Mendoza calls home and where he has been growing avocados since he was 16 years old. "My mother started our family's farm in 1980, and my brothers and I started growing avocados then," he told TriplePundit.

Michoacán: The global center of avocado production

Today, Mendoza and his four brothers manage a 250-acre operation, where they grow 15,000 avocado trees, divided into five orchards. "Our farm is spread out at diverse elevations between 1,400 and 2,700 meters above sea level," Mendoza explained. "The difference in climates at the various locations allows us to harvest avocados year-round."


Michoacán is a lush environment, with rainforests, pine forests and deciduous forests spread throughout the state. "From my orchards, you can see the volcano Paricutín. In the past few weeks, it has had snow on top of it that we can see from the farm," Mendoza reflected.

Mendoza typically starts his day on the farm around 7 a.m. When his employees arrive, they go over their plan for the day and address any production problems before any other work begins. While the farm's full-time work crew consists of 20 employees, during times of heavy harvesting, they also manage outside picking crews.

Approximately 90 percent of avocado imports in the U.S. come from Mexico, and until recently, Michoacán was the only Mexican state to meet the rigorous requirements of the U.S. export program - which includes certifying the fruits are free from pests and plant disease, among other requirements. "We have participated in the export program since its inception, and we export mostly to the U.S.," Mendoza said of his farm.