Economics With A Face

She was extremely helpful and we scribbled down notes as she showed us around the warehouse that was designated for export to the United States. Since January 31st of this year, Mexico, for the first time in 80 years has been able to export avocados to 47 states in the U.S. year-round. San Lorenzo, the biggest Mexican owned packing plant, was taking full advantage. A USDA inspector is on grounds daily to break the special seals on the incoming avocados trucks (the trucks are sealed after avocados have been picked at a USDA-approved huerta), randomly inspecting a percentage of the avocados for weevils, and making sure the quarantine areas are in compliance. Rosangel made clear that in her 15 years working at this plant she had never heard of even one weevil found in even one avocado in their or any of the surrounding warehouses.

Unfortunately there wasn't much going on in the plant as the avocados normally arrived later in the day. We saw the processing and packing line, and Rosangel explained how the process worked. We were able to get a good feel for how the place has been working since the law change earlier in the year. After the tour and back in her office we asked if it would be possible if she could help us arrange a visit to one of the many growers that the company buys from. She said she could make some calls but admitted that while she drives by them everyday, she herself had only been out to an avocado grove once or twice as she was in the sales department.

She tracked down a manager, Antonio, who said he would be more than happy to take us out to an orchard. We all piled into the taxi and headed out to get a first hand look.

Antonio was a wealth of information. This particular huerta was a large one; he told us that the company works with a whole range of growers of different sizes. We walked around the orchards overflowing with hanging fruit, got to see the irrigation system, a nursery of young trees, picking machines, and as a bonus, a trout farm and roosters bred for cock-fighting (!). One thing I hadn't realized is that avocados originated in central Mexico. This particular area of Michoacan is known for exceptional avocados. Chefs around the world prefer the unique taste of avocados produced here because of the volcanic ground in which they grow.

We dropped off Antonio and thanked for the great tour of the orchards. Armando, who had asked a lot of interesting questions himself during the tour, asked if we wanted to go see a beautiful church in San Juan Nuevo, a near-by town. We thought it was a great idea as we still had some time before we had to meet with Ricardo at 5:00 .

The church was beautiful. Inside was a special figure of a madonna that had originally been in the cathedral in the town of San Juan Viejo. People now visited this figure from far and wide because she was thought to create miracles. A volcano erupted in the 1950s and lava engulfed the town of Viejo all except for the cathedral. All of the townspeople escaped alive. To this day, the cathedral in Viejo stands alone amid the lava rock. San Juan Nuevo was built a few miles away, the miracle madonna was moved to its cathedral and now sheｴs famous.

Afterwards, Armando bought us all a few tunas, the sweet prickly-pear fruit from a cactus, which neither of us had tried before. After the excursion to San Juan Nuevo we decided to head back to the hotel to get a little rest before our meeting.

At 5:00 we headed over to the APEAM offices to meet with Ricardo Salgado. It was funny, all these years I thought Ricardo was simply the owner of a small orchard outside of Uruapan. While indeed he is, he is also the person who has been leading the charge to get Mexican avocados legally imported within the United States.

The details of our talk will most likely be a topic of an upcoming essay but I'll just say it was a great meeting. It was an especially relevant time to talk with him about my book and the avocado trade between Mexico and the U.S. since they had just recently accomplished their goal of securing importation rights for their products. He loaded us up with a good deal more information and we took a picture together before we left. As his story had been an inspiration to me, I promised him that if I ever get my book published he will be one of the first people to get a signed copy.

We next walked across town and had one of the best dinners of the trip at a tiny restaurant that specialized in arrancheras. Now we're back at the hotel and planning on getting some sleep (but only after practicing our salsa, Em insists).