The Iconic California Avocado Is in Trouble, and This Farmer Is Fighting To Save It

VALLEY CENTER, Calif. — Norman Kachuck stood on a loamy ridge overlooking his inheritance.

Avocado trees blanketed the hillsides of ACA Groves in three directions, just a portion of a 372-acre spread studded with 16,000 specimens, many of them dense with branches weighed down by that quintessential California fruit.

The serene San Diego County property felt far from the chaotic epicenter of the global avocado industry in Mexico.

Violence, corruption and environmental degradation have saturated the avocado trade there, causing the U.S. to briefly stop imports and senators to agitate for action by the federal government.

“Mexican avocado imports are tainted conflict fruit,” said Kachuck, 70, a former neurologist who heads his family’s business. “The Mexican avocado industry is corrupt and ungoverned — and the American consumer is being deceived.”