Leading U.S. avocado importers continue to buy from Mexican orchards occupying illegally deforested land even though they were alerted to the deforestation in November 2023, a U.S.-based advocacy group says. The assertion was made this month by Climate Rights International (CRI), a U.S.-based nonprofit that issued last year’s deforestation warning in its report “Unholy Guacamole.” The report said land clearing, water capture and violence in Mexico’s avocado-export industry are “a glaring example of agribusiness interests taking precedent over the environment—a global phenomenon deepening the climate crisis.” CRI says the report, which included detailed satellite imagery showing land before and after it was deforested, was shared with key stakeholders in the supply chain that brings Mexican avocados into the United States. But the organization asserts that neither industry executives nor government officials have acted to resolve issues raised in the report. Mexican avocados have been dubbed “green... [Log in to read more]