Why Cartels Target Mexico’s Avocado Trade
Avocados are a valuable crop, and Mexico’s orchards—especially those in Michoacán—feed a large domestic and export market. That makes the business attractive not only to growers and buyers, but also to criminal groups seeking dependable income. Their influence does not necessarily mean they own every orchard. It can mean they use threats and violence to extract money from the people who grow, pack, and move the fruit.
How Extortion Reaches the Grocery Store
An avocado passes through several hands before it reaches a supermarket: orchard owners harvest it, workers sort and pack it, and trucks carry it to buyers. Criminal groups can exploit those links by demanding payments from growers or businesses, or by pressuring people who control land and transport. When refusing can bring threats or attacks, a payment becomes a cost of doing business—even for someone with no connection to the cartel.
The crop’s value is part of the appeal. Orchards represent productive land and a continuing stream of harvests, while packing and shipping create additional points where goods and money can be controlled. Coercion can therefore reach beyond the farm gate and into the commercial network that connects local producers to distant markets.
The Cost Is More Than the Fruit
These pressures can leave farmers facing a grim choice: pay, risk losing their livelihood, or leave. That instability can disrupt harvests and business operations, but the most immediate costs fall on the people living and working in the region. The avocado in a shopping bag can be the endpoint of a supply chain shaped by violence far from the store.
