California avocado growers are warning about potential penetration of pests across borders after the Biden administration has ended the Clinton-era food testing process that threatens the Mexican cartel and now threatens our farmers.
“We understand the importance of free trade,” Kemmelvan, vice president of industry and operations for the California Avocado Commission, told Fox Digital in a Zoom interview Tuesday. “8-90% of the US total demand for avocados is supplied by Mexico. However, free trade should not increase the risk for California growers.”
“Our growers work hard to maintain their business, drive economic engines, provide them to their families and support the economy around them,” he said. “And they don’t have to face pests, and it’s not their own fault, just because they were afraid of past governments to stand up to the cartels.”
Melvan was responding to the Biden administration’s decision in September 2024 to end the US Department of Agriculture program called the Animal and Plant Health Testing Service (APHIS) to ensure that avocados exported to the US inspect their farms in Mexico will not include pests that could destroy US agriculture. The policy change comes after Mexican criminals reportedly assaulted and threatened inspectors in recent years.
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The fruit box with avocado is depicted during harvest in an orchard in Uruapan city, Michoacan, Mexico. (Getty Images)
Instead, Mexico was accused of ensuring that avocados sent across the border were free of harmful pests such as seeds and stem weevils and seed moth. Weevils are small insects that generally have long noses and are well known for damaging and destroying crops.
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Weevils are beetles that belong to the superfamily bone ulionoidea, known for their elongated noses. (sumyabrata roy/nurphoto via Getty Images)
The Mexican Agriculture Agency reported that the Animal and Plant Health Testing Services Program ended in a statement in September 2024, “With this agreement, the U.S. Health and Safety Agency recognizes the commitment of Mexican growers who have not had hygiene issues with exports for more than 27 years.”
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President Biden’s administration is firing fire from the avocado industry. (Getty Images)
Former President Bill Clinton established a testing program to further strengthen the US agricultural community, allowing the California Avocado Commission and the Department of Agriculture to reach an agreement with Mexico in 1997, allowing Mexican avocados to export to the US under conditions that test fruits. All costs associated with inspections of orchard and packed housing programs were stepped in by Mexico, not by US taxpayers, according to the committee.
The Biden administration also suspended the program in 2022 after inspectors in the western state of Michoacan were threatened “to him and his family.” USDA said at the time. Two other USDA employees were also reportedly attacked and temporarily detained by a suspect from the same Mexican state in June 2024, leading to another moratorium before Mexico finally conducted the test in September 2024.
“We know that if the US government doesn’t exist, there’s a possibility of corruption,” Melvan said of the lack of USDA inspectors currently in Mexico. “You can’t come out one day and pretend that your gloves are certified and you’re taking all the necessary steps to eliminate and free pests, and you know that fruit has been brought in from other uncertified gloves in the past, and that’s part of the problem.
“This whole testing program is funded by Mexico,” he added. “It’s part of their privilege to come to our US market.”
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Michoacan has long been a hotbed of cartel activities, and in September the State Department issued Mexico’s “don’t travel” recommendation, due to the high threat of inducements and crime, according to travel advisories. Michoacan and Jalisco are two Mexican states that have been permitted to export avocados to the US
Soldiers patrolled the streets of Aguililla, Michoacan, Mexico on March 11, 2022, after violent cartel activities. (Enrique Castro/AFP by Getty Images)
Some residents and farmers of Michoacan province have also formed various self-defense groups over the past decade to help protect cartels from violence.
Self-Defense Group member Pueblos Unidos will perform security duties in the protection of an avocado farm whipped by the locally dominated drug cartels in Ario de Rosales, Michoacan, Mexico on July 8, 2021. (Getty Images)
“We’ve all heard and seen reports that cartels are very popular in Michoacan. This is a big growth area, the first state that they’ve been granted access to the US, and they’re going to be involved at some level, to some extent,” Melvan explained.
The USDA told Fox Digital on Wednesday that the APHIS program is committed to continuing to inspect fruits entering the US on the border and “mitigating plant health risks in a way that does not compromise employees or US plant oversecurity.”
“USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Testing Service (APHIS) understands the important importance of the avocado industry to California and recognizes the concerns raised by residents. Affith staff continues to fulfill their inspection responsibilities for fruits entering the United States from Mexico, a spokesman said.
“The staffing and budget levels for the testing program remain the same, and the agency continues to conduct inspections in packed homes and provide audit and oversight of orchard inspections carried out by Mexican plant health authorities. The affiliate is committed to reducing plant health risks in ways that do not continue to provide employee safety and security.”
According to a spokesman, Affis plans to continue working with and speaking with avocado producers, and will maintain that it is “recognised for future changes to the Mexican program.”
“The Affis recognizes that the nature of the avocado industry, including high and low seasons in Mexico and California, is very important. US producers work to continue growing avocados safely.
Bullet holes from cartel violence can be found in the sanctuary of the El Aguage community in Aguililla, Michoacan, Mexico. (Getty Images)
California is the top producer of avocados, with around 3,000 producers generating $1.5 billion a year per year, Melvan said. However, the industry could shake up if trees and other pests were brought to the US due to a lack of fruit inspections and rot testing.
“We farm about 50,000 acres and represent about 3,000 farmers,” Melvan said. “It averages 17 acres per farmer. So we are generally a small industry. And I think it’s important because you’re looking at the family farms you’re doing business with. The pests introduced into growing production areas that destroy our industry.”
Additionally, avocado trees take years to mature. This means that potential pest invasions can result in a three- to four-year waiting period as the plant is ready to actually produce fruit. The recovery costs around 3,000 farmers, but they will also have to roam state laws about whether pesticides can even be used to kill insects.
“We basically don’t contain pesticides,” Melvan said. “But if we bring in pests that don’t have other means of controlling, then it needs to happen, so these growers can fight to save their business. And now you’re caught up in the domino effect and collateral damage that uses additional pesticides in an industry where we don’t want to use them.
Weevils found in avocados. (California Avocado Committee)
Five Republican California lawmakers wrote to Trump administration’s agricultural secretary Bouquet Rollins in March about their vigilance over how the Biden administration ended the program due to an ongoing threat from the cartel.
“In late 2024, Affis unilaterally deleted all USDA inspectors in Mexican avocado orchards without prior notice, due to the physical threat to safety by Mexican cartels.
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Aerial view of avocado orchards in Mexico. (Getty Images)
“The US retreated in the face of cartel threats, and as a result, almost immediately after this change, more destructive weevils were detected in packaging facilities where breakdowns in the testing process and an increased likelihood of pest-invasive avocado slipped through the system and proved an increased likelihood of crossing into the US,” the letter continued.
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Workers fu steam avocado trees in a municipal orchard in Ario do Rosales, Michoacán, Mexico. (Getty Images)
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“This lawmaker was a real champion for us about this,” Melvan told Issa’s leadership Fox Digital since Biden’s decision in September. “Around 30-35% of our total production is adjacent to Mexico in his district and his district. He understands the threat posed to his members here, and he is working very hard to overturn this decision.”
