Let’s Talk About AVOCADOS! (Confronting lies, ignorance, and fear in modern journalism.)

Yesterday, I happened upon a story (a poorly written, and unconvincing one, at that — and there are several) about a complaint that someone, or some group, was making to so-called “chefs,” who in response were removing the avocado from their menus, ostensibly because of some alleged character flaw characterized as “un-sustainability.”

Avocados are a nutrient dense, heart-healthy food, production of which is SUSTAINABLE, and lucrative, for this, and other nation’s economies… contrary to what the goddamn ignoramuses tell you. There are PLENTY of academically, statistically, economically, and scientifically validated facts about avocados in this entry, ALL from HIGHLY REPUTABLE sources which almost every one DIRECTLY CONTRADICT the goddamn lies and BULLSHIT that so-called “journalists” write, and hope to get you to believe.

What a crock!

“Sustainability” my ass!

You wanna’ know what’s “unsustainable”?

Life without water. Life without food.

Besides… the fucking avocados are Hecho en Mexico.

Yeah, you stupid motherfuckers… Mexico produces the lion’s share of the world’s avocados, followed by Dominican Republic, Peru, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Brazil, Haiti, Chile, and Israel.

NOT ‘Murka.

A business intelligence report on the global avocado market wrote this, in part, about the fruit:

“Avocados contain vitamins A, B, C, E, and K, including 25 essential nutrients. It also contains phytochemicals, like beta-sitosterol and antioxidants, like lycopene and beta-carotene. The essential nutrients are increasing the demand for the fruit, globally, and therefore acts as a major driving force behind the growth of the avocado market. The demand for avocados is increasing globally due to their health benefits as it increases vision, prevents heart-related diseases, and helps in improving digestion. The increased demand across the globe has resulted in increased production. According to FAOSTAT, avocado production was 5.7 million metric ton in 2016, which has increased by 12.7% and reached 7.1 million metric ton in 2019.”

FAOSTAT is the Statistics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

So… that’s not enough facts, figures, and statistics about avocados?

You’re about to get more than you can shake a stick at. So, sit tight, and hold onto your hat. We’re about to go on a whirlwind ride!

Here are more facts, figures, and statistics about avocados, from NASS, 2020 (National Agricultural Statistics Service — i.e., your tax dollars at work):

In 2020 the United States produced 206,610 tons of avocados. That same year, economic value of U.S. avocado production was $426 million. California’s 2020 avocado production value was $411,720,000, with 47,300 acres in production, which yielded 3.98 TONS / ACRE.

For comparison, the U.S. Gross Domestic Product in Q3 2021 was $23.173496 TRILLION. California’s avocado production DOES NOT even make it into the state’s Top 10 most valuable agriculture products, which are:

• Dairy Products, Milk — $7.47 billion
• Almonds — $5.62 billion
• Grapes — 4.48 billion
• Pistachios — $2.87 billion
• Cattle and Calves — $2.74 billion

• Lettuce — $2.28 billion
• Strawberries — $1.99 billion
• Tomatoes — $1.20 billion
• Floriculture — $967 million
• Walnuts — $958 million

In California, avocados are the 16th most valuable crop. Tomatoes, strawberries, hay, oranges, rice, tangerines, almonds, pistachios, broccoli, and lettuce all outpace the state’s avocado production value.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis found that in Q2 2021, the value of California’s Gross Domestic Product was $3,290,170 million ($3.29 TRILLION), and accounted for 14.5% of U.S. GDP.

In the U.S., a total of 52,720 acres were in stable avocado production. Certain varieties, such as the Hass, have a tendency to bear well only in alternate years. That’s a 50% reduction biennially. How would you like it if your income fluctuated like that?

In the past decade, U.S. avocado consumption the U.S. has doubled, and is now about 4x higher than in the mid-1990s. In fact, avocados have become more abundant in the U.S. exclusively because of an increase in avocado imports.

In the 2019-2020 growing year, the U.S. imported 2.1 billion pounds of avocados from the Mexican state of Michoacán, a west central state bordering on the Pacific Ocean.

A new economic analysis from Texas A&M University (“2020 Update: The Economic Benefits Of U.S. Avocado Imports From Mexico“), found that imports of Mexican Hass avocados have contributed substantially to the U.S. economy during the 2019-2020 growing season.

Those contributions include:

• $6.5 billion in output or spending
• $4.0 billion to the U.S. GDP (value-added)
• 33,051 jobs for American workers
• $2.2 billion in labor income
• $1.1 billion in taxes

The contribution of avocado imports to total U.S. GDP increased 273% from $1.7 billion in 2012 to $6.5 billion in FY 2019/20.

And finally, CONTRARY TO THE BULLSHIT LIES OF so-called “journalists,” avocado farming also continues to be a viable and sustainable business venture in Mexico, as well. In fact, the Mexican avocado industry creates approximately 78,000 direct and permanent jobs, 310,000 indirect and seasonal jobs, and provides a productive living in a region that was once one of the largest sources of migrant workers in the U.S.

But hey… let’s talk about EFFICIENCY, shall we?

Avocados grown in the USA come from California, where their production requires 74.1 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of fruit.

Comparatively, the global average water use per pound of avocado produced is radically reduced at 28 gallons, though it varies by country. Mexico uses 31.9 gallons, but Chile 96.8 gallons, so there’s that consideration of efficiency.

So… where’d those figures come from?

A PhD dissertation by Julie Carmela Reints in June 2019 at the University of California, Riverside, in “Water Management Practices in California ‘Hass’ Avocado: Technologies Adoption and Impact of Soil Water Relations on Leaf Nutrient Concentrations and Yield.”

Y’know… I’m NOT a tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorist by any stretch of the imagination, but it PISSES ME THE HELL OFF when so-called “journalists” write garbage, lies and crap like that (which I mentioned above in the opening).

If I can find that information (which I’ve shared in part herein), ANYONE can find it. It’s just that some asshole folks are too goddamn L — A — Z — Y and can’t be bothered to read, or to question what the goddamn liars and talking heads they stare at on the boob tube tell them.

These goddamn morons (mentioned above) think that avocados are the fucking problem to water shortages, or that California almonds, or pistachios are demon seeds, or that beef is bogus…

Well… the shit those “scientists” make in a goddamn chemistry lab with Petri dishes & test tubes, and then have the unmitigated gall, and audacity to call it “food” when it is NOT! IT IS POISON!

That garbage is ARTIFICIALLY PRODUCED, EXTRAORDINARILY HIGHLY PROCESSED WITH CHEMICALS & “FAKE” INGREDIENTS!

THAT is what’s nasty.

THAT is what’s “unsustainable.”

ALL life requires water.

And if we’re gonna’ continue to shit on this planet, and treat it like a fucking garbage dump, then we’re gonna’ hafta’ start building some serious desalinization plants along the East, West coasts, and Southern Gulf coasts to meet the need we ALL have for water. And frankly, with the reality of Climate Change upon us, bringing with it rising ocean levels and accompanying flooding, that might not be such a bad idea, after all.

We’re just seriously behind the 8-ball, oh… by about 50 years, or so. It started with the so-called “Great Communicator” who promptly removed the solar panels from the White House, and deep-sixed practically all efforts to research renewable energy, or develop/redevelop economic infrastructure.

The short-sighted, Alzheimer’s-ridden Hollywood actor TRIPLED the goddamn deficit… but you sure felt good about yourself, didn’t you?

Yeah.

Fuck Ronald Reagan.
Fuck the goddamn Bushes.
Son-of-a-Bush screwed our most vulnerable by the goddamn “doughnut hole” in Medicare, and forbidding the U.S. Government – the world’s LARGEST purchaser of medications – from negotiating prices. And started a goddamn wasteful 20-fucking-years war that was a shithole to begin with.
And fuck Trump while you’re at it – lying worthless waste of human flesh.

And Hillary can GO TO HELL… or learn how to give a blowjob, and bake cookies.

But you know something else?

If the goddamn CIA hadn’t ousted the legitimately democratically elected, and well-beloved Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh of Iran in 1953, and installed a brutal totalitarian American puppet (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran) who was a cruel, corrupt, authoritarian secret police state dictator, we certainly wouldn’t have the Ayatollah Khomeini, and very likely would have never had Osama bin Laden… and never would have had 9-11.

Yeah.

Put that in your pipe & smoke it.

American foreign policy has been a FUCKED UP MESS for well over 50 years. We should’ve sent 40, or 50 John Deere tractors, a big team of experts from the USDA & tuckloads of all kinds of seeds, and taught the Afghanis how to farm, to grow food to feed themselves and their livestock. That’s ALL they want. America does NOT need to be in the business of war, creating enemies of folks who could be our friends.

Eat your goddamn avocados, don’t talk with your mouth full, and be thankful!