SOURCE: Mass Infomaccion
TRANSLATION: Freshplaza
Mexico’s Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) has banned exports of avocados grown in orchards in deforested areas, effective October 1, focusing on Michoacán and Jalisco. Semarnat head Alicia Bárcena Ibarra explains that the mechanism uses certificates to prevent fruit grown on deforested land from being exported to foreign markets.
Bárcena Ibarra said an amendment to the Forestry Act authorized Semarnat to issue the documents and verify compliance with its provisions. The program begins with the Labor Certificate for Agricultural Exports (CLA), followed by an environmental certificate from Semarnat. The environmental certificate will initially be valid for one month and must be renewed every two months thereafter.
Michoacán already had similar restrictions in place. In January, Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla said that at least 2,000 of the state’s 58,000 registered orchards had been shut down for failing to comply with the ‘Guardián Forestal’ satellite monitoring system or for lacking ‘Pro Forest Avocado’ certification. Alejandro Méndez López, head of the state Environment Secretariat, documented more than a thousand complaints of environmental damage in 2025, mostly related to illegal land-use changes.
According to the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, 80% of avocado orchards in Michoacán were established illegally. From 2016 to 2021, the region recorded 2,628 homicides, a rate of 54 per 100,000 inhabitants, as production value grew. Meanwhile, exports to the European market quadrupled between 2017 and 2021.
The groups currently operating in the area include the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Los Viagras, Los Blancos de Troya, Los Caballeros Templarios, and La Familia Michoacana. Last August, the arrest of Alfonso Fernández Magallón, identified as the leader of the Los Reyes Cartel, prompted threats against avocado business owners and health inspectors. In response, US inspectors suspended their activities, affecting producers in the sector.