Another in our ever popular series of Guardian headlines we can answer:
Are Mexican avocados the world’s new conflict commodity?
No.
Now, the risk analytics group Verisk Maplecroft has warned in a new analysis that Mexican avocados risk becoming the next “conflict commodity”, akin to “blood diamonds” in Angola and Sierra Leone and conflict minerals in the Democractic Republic of the Congo.
Just no.
Because they’re a plant, a plant which grows in a variety of tropical and Mediterranean climes. That is, there’s no geographic limitation which people can control. Indeed, 50 clicks from where I sit right now someone’s just planting 1,500 hectares of the things. And the bloke next door in the last house had one trained over a trellis as the sunshade for his car. Which did dent his car a bit but still.
Sheesh, you can only cartelise something if you can control supply.
I’m pleased to say the avocados I ate while I was down in Sydney weren’t grown by Mexican slave labour. We also grow them in Oz.
The answer is yes! We were in constant combat with the racoons over our avacados.