Francisco Isidro climbed about 20 feet up an avocado tree in Santa Ana Zirosto and filled a box bound for the United States. It was the morning after U.S. authorities lifted a security alert that had stopped avocado exports from Michoacán for eight days.
Isidro, 39, said, "Thank God... and now we’re getting paid!" The restart put about 200,000 people employed by Michoacán’s avocado industry back into motion after the shutdown froze shipments and work across orchards and packing plants.
Michoacán orchards restart
By the weekend, orchards were operating again and packing plants were running at full speed. U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors had returned to certify the fruit before it entered the United States, restoring the step that had been interrupted when the alert took effect.
Mexico shipped nearly 4,800 tons of avocados a day to the United States in March, so even a short halt cut into a trade flow that moves fast and depends on inspection at the border. The suspension ended after eight days, and the fruit began moving again once the restrictions were fully lifted.
Valentín Rodríguez in Michoacán
Valentín Rodríguez said, "We’ll be safe for a while, we’ll see what happens next." He also said a producer pays 1 peso per kilo exported in extortion fees, putting a number on the pressure growers describe as part of doing business.
That fear did not disappear with the restart. Trucks loaded with avocados are sometimes robbed on roads in western Michoacán, and some farmworkers have been stopped and beaten by armed men near the border with Jalisco.
US security alert
The alert did not explain what specific threat triggered the shutdown, and that leaves producers with the same problem they faced before: exports are moving again, but the interruption showed how quickly the supply line can stop. Francisco Isidro was back in the tree after several days without work; the industry around him is still waiting to see whether the calm lasts.
