Mexican cartels profit from avocado boom, star fruit in the U.S.

report SRA 2025 / [ pdf and English version ].

√ Michoacán is the state with the largest cultivation; Jalisco Nueva Generación, Familia Michoacana, Los Viagras and Caballeros Templarios are illicitly involved in its production.

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

√ Producers have organized self-defense groups to confront the status, but this has not prevented individuals and families from leaving for other lands.

Avocado consumption has grown enormously in the world, especially in the United States, which annually imports around one million tons from Mexico. Guacamole, a seasoned paste made from this product, has become a culinary accompaniment to the Super Bowl, the great American soccer festival, an occasion for which in 2024 the United States imported a record 137,000 tons (in 2025 it dropped slightly, presumably due to its higher price). This has a positive impact on Mexico's agricultural sector and on Economics throughout the country.

However, the industry currently faces significant challenges, particularly infiltration by drug trafficking organizations. As a high-profit industry - the avocado is nicknamed "green gold" and its production and marketing is worth US$3 billion annually - the country has seen a decisive increase in cartel activity as they take advantage of the considerable US demand for avocados. Overproduction of coca leaf in Colombia, which has distorted prices somewhat, and the skill of fentanyl have motivated some drug cartels to diversify their business. 

Drug cartels have jeopardized the stability of the avocado industry by controlling supply chains, exploiting farmers and taking advantage of the avocado trade to conduct their illicit business that leads to corruption and violence.

Economic attractiveness

International demand for Mexican avocados has experienced a decisive increase, especially from the United States, which imports around 80% of Mexican production. Precisely since 1997, when the United States authorized the purchase of Mexican avocados, in application of the North American Free Trade Agreement that came into force three years earlier, the consumption of this product in the US market has continued to grow, boosting the sector at origin.

Thus, as detailed in a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, from 1994 to 2022, the area under cultivation in Mexico has increased by 173%, reaching 252,133 hectares, and the value of production has increased by 527%, reaching 63.45 billion pesos ($3.105 billion). Mexico's avocado industry has transformed into a lucrative business and has significantly attracted the interests of criminal organizations, which perceive the industry as more profitable compared to their drug trafficking business.

Cartels have used various forms of manipulation, coercion and extortion to profit from the avocado industry, especially in the Michoacán region, where most of the production is harvested. Michoacán alone, agreement to the Panorama Agroalimentario of government entity FIRA, produced 2.25 million tons of avocados in 2023 (75.8% of total national production, distant from 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 Cartel - New Generation (CJNG), Familia Michoacana, Los Viagras and Caballeros Templarios. These groups perceive the avocado industry as more stable compared to their traditional drug trafficking business. Therefore, the economic attractiveness of the avocado makes it a lucrative business for drug trafficking organizations.

Cartel tactics

While many producers and exporters follow clean practices, cartels use coercive and violent techniques to dominate the avocado sector and this method targets government officials, transporters and farmers. One of the techniques widely employed involves protection fees or 'quotas' paid by farmers and shippers under coercive circumstances. The imposition of fees contributes to making production more expensive and hurts farmers, causing them to abandon their fields.

Control of supply is another way to exert influence over the avocado business. Cartels have mastered methods of stopping transportation-related brokers and driver fees, while intercepting shipment deliveries to ensure that they retain control over prices and/or the direction of the supply chain. In addition, the cartels use their influence within the municipal government, bribing officials to ignore the cartel's business or issuing permits that ensure cartel control in areas containing avocados.

This means that the cartels have free power to engage in activities that displace indigenous communities and contribute to insecurity where officials feel threatened. Farming families are also at risk because people operating under the cartels have caused many kidnappings, murders and destruction of property. This environment of fear not only affects local Economics , but also the health and well-being of community members who feel threatened by violence because they are involved in one of the most profitable sectors of agriculture in the country.

Impact and response

As an organized crime, cartel infiltration affects local communities on many fronts. Overall, extortion fees make it extremely difficult for farmers to break even, crippling the farming business. Protection payments coupled with general insecurity costs mean that avocado farmers sometimes opt to abandon their land. This has led to a reduction in population in areas dependent on avocado cultivation, which severely erodes community development and reduces regional growth.

Mexico's government has been unable to curb the entrance of cartels entrance the avocado sector. According to local media, in areas where the crop is harvested, security forces have tried to establish 'cartel-free areas', but the control of local institutions by criminal organizations continues to hamper efforts. The US market is keen to confirm that its imports are not financing criminals, and some importers have begun working with Mexican law enforcement to create secure supply chains. However, it is difficult to determine the origin of the flow of agricultural products.

Local resistance

Faced with the threat of cartels in Michoacán's avocado niche, local communities and farmers have begun to seek means to defend themselves against the cartels. A prominent example of such involvement is the emergence of self-defense groups against the cartels in the communities most affected by the violence. Such groups are formed and led by the residents of the particular region, who are often farmers who, in order to protect their land and businesses, do not have to rely solely on the federal or state governments.

While sometimes anonymous or accepted as official entities, the self-defense groups have provided communities with the opportunity to fight extortion and violence and have provided farmers with tools to protect their incomes. In addition, other models of cooperative farming are emerging as an important means through which other small-scale farmers avoid cartel domination. By integrating resources, income and internship authority for community control, they in turn reduce their susceptibility to such demands and strengthen local economies.

Local government has also become acore topic partner in these locally driven efforts. In recent years, many of Michoacán's municipalities have partnered with both NGOs and businesses to better address security issues and provide financial aid to establish other sources of income. This approach will seek to decentralize trade routes that are primarily dominated by the cartels, as well as strengthen communities' defenses against cartel aggression.