Avocado and the stress on water aquifer leading to lack of water for the poor

We've heard a lot about how the boom in almond
and other nut production is straining California's
dwindling water supplies amid the state's worst-
ever drought. But what about the avocado, another
trendy commodity that grows on trees and delivers
all-the-rage healthy fats?
US consumers certainly love this unctuous tropical
fruit. According to the US Department of
Agriculture, avocado production per capita jumped
from 1.1 pounds annually in 1999 to 4.5 pounds in
2011.
Avocados don't require nearly as much water per
pound as almonds. But they do require
significantly more than other kinds of produce, as
my colleague Julia Lurie shows in this chart:
How Thirsty Are These Fruits and
Veggies?
The amount of irrigated water, in gallons, that it
takes to grow a pound of the following in California
74. 1 Avocados
42. 1 Peaches
12 . 2 Oranges
10 . 8 Tomatoes
9. 8 Strawberries
5. 5 Lettuce
Created with Datawrapper
Source: Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2010, Get the
data
(Note that the figures in this chart, and the one
later in this post, include only blue water—which
comes from rivers, lakes, streams, and aquifers—
and not rainfall or recycled water.)
And as in the case of almonds and so many other
crops, California dominates US production,
accounting for about 90 percent of the US avocado
harvest. Nearly all of it takes place in Southern
California, in a five-county region that straddles the
coast from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.
Like the rest of the state, the southern coastal
region is locked in a drought, and largely cut off
from the flow of surface water from the state's big
irrigation projects. The result has been strife in the
avocado groves— sky-high water costs and a
reliance on water pumped from underground
aquifers.
But overall, California's avocado farms have a
relatively light water impact. Unlike almonds and
pistachios, whose acreage has expanded
dramatically in recent years, land devoted to
avocados has actually shrunk, from a high of
76,000 acres in 1987 to fewer than 60,000 acres in
2012 (although production has held steady,
because yield increases have offset the loss of
acres). Also unlike the state's nut growers,
California's avocado farmers aren't taking
advantage of a boom in demand from Asia.
According to the USDA, US avocado exports are so
small they're "negligible."
Also, avocados are a perishable, seasonal product,
and the California season peaks from May through
August—meaning that for the rest of the year, we
rely on Mexico, Chile, and Peru to satisfy our
guacamole habit. All told, the USDA reports, about
70 percent of the avocados we consume are
imported.
Where Do Avocados Use the Most
Water?
The average amount of irrigated water, in gallons,
that it takes to grow a pound of avocados
96. 8 Chile
74 . 1 California
71. 8 USA
31. 9 Mexico
28. 4 Global average
Created with Datawrapper
Source: Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2010, Get the
data
And so most of the water impact from our growing
appetite for avocados lands on other places. And
as Eilis O'Neill recently reported in Civil Eats ,
satisfying our demand for off-season avocados is
causing trouble in another drought-stricken region,
Chile's Central Valley—which, like California's, lies
between a snowcapped interior mountain range
and a coastal mountain range.
This valley is the epicenter of Chile's fruit-and-veg
export behemoth that began in the 1980s. As this
US Department of Agriculture report states, Chile's
Southern Hemisphere location gives it a "counter-
seasonal production schedule with the United
States"—that is, Chile's summer starts around the
time that ours ends. The rapid rise of Chilean
produce into the US market is a big reason US
consumers can expect bountiful produce aisles
year-round—it "extended the availability of certain
fruits in the market without direct competition with
domestic production, and gave US consumers fruit
choices beyond the traditional domestic winter
fruits of citrus, apples, and pears," the USDA notes.
Chile now supplies a fifth of US fruit, the USDA
adds.
Avocados were part of that boom. As O'Neill notes,
land devoted to avocados has expanded rapidly—
from about 6,180 hectares (15,270 acres) in 1980
to 27,000 hectares (66,700 acres) in 2006, all the
way to 36,000 hectares (88,960 acres) in 2014,
according to the USDA.
And just as in California, climate change and
drought have meant less surface water flowing
from mountain ranges to irrigate crops—and a shift
to pumping water from underground aquifers. As a
result, producers have "used so much of the
region's waters that small farmers with shallow
wells—and some nearby towns—are left with no
water," O'Neill writes, echoing reports of waterless
towns in California's Central Valley.
Like our Golden State, Chile takes a laissez-faire
approach to groundwater regulation, O’Neill reports
—a legacy of the reign of General Augusto
Pinochet, a free-market zealot who came to power
in a US-backed coup in 1973 and remained
dictator until 1990.
And large, export-minded farm operations have the
wherewithal to drill larger and deeper wells,
squeezing out small farms and nearby
communities, O'Neill reports. Meanwhile, the
profits from Chile's farm export boom remains
pretty concentrated in the hands of large
landowners.
Chile's avocado harvest starts in runs from August
to March—making it a prime supplier during the
football season guacamole blitz.
O'Neill's piece gives us something to think about
as we plunge chips into that delicious dip. "When
you eat an avocado that comes from [a large
producer in] Chile, think about the fact that the
water used to produce it is water that homes in the
country's most humble communities now lack,"
water activist Rodrigo Mundaca tells her.