A feel good story has emerged amid all the apprehension over the future of Mexico-U.S. trade provoked by the election of Donald Trump.
This week, a cargo of avocados left Jalisco for the United States for the first time in living memory. Although an 83-year-old ban on the importation of Mexican avocados was lifted in 1997, only the state of Michoacán was considered to have the necessary safeguards on orchard standards and product transport required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Since 2004, approximately 181,000 shipments totaling over 3.2 million tons of fresh Hass avocado have been imported into the United States – all of it from Michoacán.
Last May, the USDA and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) amended the regulations to allow the importation of avocados from all areas of Mexico. Jalisco was the first state to meet the new shipping requirements and this week the long wait was finally over.
The initial shipment of four containers of 120 tons of avocados left from Zapotlán el Grande in the presence of municipal, state and federal officials, as well as avocado farmers from the region.
Jalisco’s avocado sector is more than ready for the export challenge, having grown rapidly in the past four years. Production rose from 40,000 tons in 2012 to 120,000 tons in 2015. Around 1,300 farmers will benefit from the chance to export their produce north of the border.
All shipments from Jalisco will be accompanied by a USDA phytosanitary certificate declaring that the originating orchards are free of Mexican fruit flies, seed weevils and other pests. Municipalities with this certification are Ciudad Guzmán, Concepción de Buenos Aires, Gómez Farías, Sayula, San Gabriel, Valle de Juárez, Mazamitla, Manzanilla de la Paz, Tapalpa, Zapotiltic, Arandas, Valle de Guadalupe and Quitupan.