California avocado growers are fuming this week about a U.S. decision to hand over pest inspections of Mexican orchards to the Mexican government.
Inspectors hired by the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been guarding against imports of avocados infected with insects and diseases since 1997, but they have also been threatened in Mexico for refusing to certify deceptive shipments in recent years.
Threats and violence against inspectors have caused the U.S. to suspend inspections in the past, and California growers question whether Mexico’s own inspectors would be better equipped to withstand such pressure.
“This action reverses the long-established inspection process designed to prevent invasions of known pests in Mexico that would devastate our industry,” the California Avocado Commission wrote in an open letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on Monday.
At present, inspectors work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, known as APHIS . Because the United States also grows avocados, U.S. inspectors observe orchards and packing houses in Mexico to ensure exported avocados don’t carry pests that could hurt U.S. crops.