America’s avocado demand is skyrocketing—and making Mexico’s deforestation disaster worse

While lucrative for the growers, the industry is under increasing pressure from organized crime groups and facing accusations of rising environmental damage.

On a sweltering July afternoon, two large yellow bulldozers dug into the brown soil at the bottom of a lush avocado orchard near the small town of Madero, located in central Mexico’s Michoacan state.