Do You Love Avocados? Do You Know What That’s Doing to Mexico?

Los Angeles is the avocado capital of the United States. Well over 140 million avocados were sold here last year, far more than in any other metropolitan area in the country. And while I love guacamole and avocado toast as much as the next Angeleno, this consumption is coming at a terrible cost that makes me feel pretty conflicted about how much we consume.

Over the last year, I visited more than 25 communities in Michoacán and Jalisco, two mountainous states in western Mexico that supply 4 out of 5 avocados sold in the United States. My research there found that expanding avocado production to meet U.S. demand is fueling widespread deforestation and water scarcity.

The destruction of the forests to install avocado orchards was plainly visible from the region’s main highways. So was the massive amount of water that producers are using for irrigation: private reservoirs, some as big as two NFL football fields, are common sights in the two drought-prone states, where many communities are confronting water shortages.