Mexican cartels profit from the avocado boom, the star fruit in the US

ARS REPORT 2025 / [Version in English and pdf in Spanish ].

√ Michoacán is the state with the largest crop; Jalisco New Generation, Michoacan Family The Viagras, and The Knights Templar are involved in illegal production.

√ Criminal organizations collect fees from farmers, exert control of transportation and supply routes, and coerce local governments.

√ Producers have organized self-defense groups to deal with the situation, but that has not prevented individuals and families from moving to other places.

Avocado consumption has grown enormously worldwide, especially in the United States, which imports around one million tons of avocado from Mexico every year. Guacamole, a seasoned paste made from the product, has become a culinary accompaniment to the Super Bowl, the great American football festival, for which the United States imported a record 137,000 tons in 2024 (in 2025, the figure fell slightly, presumably due to its higher price). This has a positive impact on Mexico's agricultural sector and on the economy of the entire country.

However, the industry is currently plagued with significant challenges, specifically the infiltration by the drug traffickers' organizations. Being an industry attracting high profits -nicknamed the avocado as "green gold", its production and marketing have an annual value of 3 billion dollars-the country has witnessed a determined rise in cartel activity capitalizing on a considerable demand for avocados by the United States. Overproduction of coca leaves in Colombia, which has somewhat distorted prices, and competition from fentanyl have motivated some drug cartels to diversify their business.

The drug traffickers' cartels have jeopardized the stability of the avocado industry by hijacking supply chains, exploiting the farmers, and capitalizing on the avocado trade to conduct their illicit deals leading to corruption and violence.

The economic appeal

The international demand for Mexican avocados has witnessed a determined increase, especially from the United States, which imports around 80% of the Mexican production. Since the United States authorized the purchase of Mexican avocados in 1997, in accordance with the North American Free Trade Agreement that came into force three years earlier, consumption of this product in the US market has not stopped growing, boosting the sector at its source.

Thus, as detailed in a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, from 1994 to 2022, the cultivated area in Mexico has increased by 173%, reaching 252,133 hectares, and the value of production has increased by 527%, reaching 63.4 billion pesos (3.1 billion dollars). Mexico's avocado industry has transformed into a lucrative venture and has attracted criminal organization interests, who perceive the industry as more profitable compared to their drug trafficking business.

Using various forms such as manipulation, coercion, and extortion, cartels have been benefiting from the avocado industry, especially in the region of Michoacán, where most production is harvested. According to the Agro-Food Panorama of the government entity FIRA, Michoacán alone produced 2.25 million tons of avocados in 2023 (75.8% of the total national production, far behind Jalisco's 10.9%; the State of Mexico's 4.5% and Nayarit's 2.6%).

Some of the cartels attracted to this business are the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Michoacan Family, The Viagras, and The Knights. These groups perceive the avocado industry as more stable compared to their traditional drug trafficking business. Thus, the economic appeal of avocado makes it a lucrative business for DTOs.

Poster tactics

While many producers and exporters are driven by fair practices, cartels capitalize on coercive and violent techniques to dominate the avocado sector and this method targets government officials, transporters, and farmers. One of the techniques widely employed entails the protection fees or the 'cuotas,' which are paid by the farmers and transporters under forceful circumstances. The imposition of tariffs contributes to higher production costs and harms farmers, causing them to abandon their fields.

Holding supply power is also another way through which DTOs exert influence over the avocado business. Cartels have mastered methods of detaining transport-related corridors and drivers' quotas while also intercepting consignment deliveries to guarantee that they retain control over prices and/or supply chain direction. Moreover, cartels use influence within municipal government, bribing officials to ignore cartel business or issuing permits that guarantee cartel control in areas containing avocados.

This means that cartels have free power to engage in activities that displace indigenous communities and contribute to insecurity where officials feel threatened (Carbajal, 2023). Families of farmers are also at risk because people operating under cartels have caused many kidnappings, murders, and property destruction. This environment of fear not only affects local economy but also the health and well-being of the community members who feel threatened with violence for being involved in one of the most profitable sectors of the country's agriculture.

Impact and response

Being an organized crime, cartel infiltration affects local communities on many fronts. Holistically, extortion of fees makes it extremely difficult for farmers to break even, hence crippling the farming business. Protection payments along with overall insecurity costs make that avocado farmers sometimes choose to abandon their land. This has led to the reduction of population in areas dependent on avocado farming thus seriously eroding community development and shrinking regional growth.

The government of Mexico has not been able to curb the entry of cartels in the avocado sector. According to local news outlets, in areas where this crop is harvested government security forces have tried to set up 'no-cartel areas' yet DTO control of local institutions continues to hinder the efforts. The US market is interested in confirming that its imports are not financing criminals, and some importers have started working with Mexican law enforcement to create safe supply chains. However, it is hard to determine the origin of the flow of agricultural produce.

Local resistance

Being faced with the cartel threat in the avocado niche in Michoacán, local communities and farmers have started searching for the means to defend themselves from cartels. One outstanding example of such involvement is the appearance of groups for self-defense against cartel, the 'autodefensas,' in communities worst affected by violence. Such groups are formed and headed by the residents of the particular region often being farmers that, in order to protect their land and businesses, do not have to rely solely on the federal or state governments.

While sometimes antonymous or accepted as official entities, autodefensas have given the communities an opportunity to fight against extortion and violence and provided farmers with tools to protect their earnings. Also, other cooperative farming models are emerging as a major means through which other small-scale farmers avoid cartel domination. By integrating resources, income, and practical authority for community control they in turn reduce their susceptibility to such demands as well as fortifying local economies.

Local government has also come out as key partners in these local-driven efforts. Within the past few years, many of the municipalities in Michoacán have entered into affiliation with both NGO's and businesses in order to better address the security issues and provide aid in establishing other sources of income. This approach will seek to decentralize the trade routes which are mainly dominated by cartels as well as strengthen the communities' defenses against cartel aggression.