The California Avocado Commission (CAC) is urging the Trump administration to take actions to help protect the Golden State’s avocado industry from insect pests in Mexico.
In a new report, the trade association issued a series of recommendations that it thinks the Trump administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) should take up to keep pests in Mexico from seriously hurting California’s billion-dollar avocado industry.
Chief among the recommendations was returning to the original USDA inspection protocols that it used to have for Mexican avocado and avocado farms under a 1997 operational work plan, particularly having USDA inspectors in the groves.
In September 2024, the Biden administration decided to end a USDA program called the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service specifically in the context of inspecting farms in Mexico to ensure that avocados exported to the U.S. did not also include pests that could disrupt U.S. agriculture. The policy change came after criminals in Mexico reportedly assaulted and threatened the inspectors in recent years.
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Instead, Mexico was charged with ensuring avocados sent across the border were free of harmful pests, such as seed and stem weevils and seed moths.
The CAC said in its report that there has been a “dramatic surge” in avocado pest interceptions at Mexican packinghouses since late October.
USDA inspectors at Mexican packing houses detected harmful pests in more than 150 different “interceptions” between Oct. 30, 2024, and March 11 this year, compared to none between Jan. 1 and Oct. 17 last year, the CAC said, citing USDA data.
This indicates a “systemic breakdown in pest control” and necessitates action from the U.S. government, according to the CAC.
“These pests pose a catastrophic risk to California’s pest-free orchards,” the trade association said in its report. “Once established, they are virtually impossible to eradicate, forcing growers into costly and environmentally regressive pesticide use, threatening international trade access, and rendering fruit unmarketable.”
In addition to advocating for the U.S. government to “restore full USDA oversight of orchard and packinghouse inspections” in Mexico, the CAC recommended the Trump administration implement security to protect USDA avocado inspectors in the country in collaboration with the Mexican authorities.
It said the government should “consider stationing inspectors in secure convoys, rotating staff in high-risk regions, or establishing temporary secure inspection zones” and not allow Mexican avocado exports into the U.S. if the neighboring country “cannot ensure safety for U.S. personnel.”
The CAC recommended that the federal government should also communicate to Mexico that avocados from Mexican orchards and packinghouses cannot come into the U.S. if USDA inspectors can’t inspect the sites they come from.
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FOX Business reached out to the USDA for comment.
The U.S. receives roughly 80% of the avocados that Mexico exports, making it a major supplier of the fruit for America, according to a USDA report. In 2024, Mexican avocados made up 88% of total U.S. avocado imports.
California’s avocado industry is worth $1.5 billion, according to the CAC. It produced more than 363.6 million pounds of the fruit during the 2023-2024 season.
Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.
