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Christi na Paul Environmental Science Report 2 Food Choices Avocadoes Avacado or Persea americana is a tree indigenous to Mexico. I personally choose to consume avacadoes grown in California and carried at New Pioneer Food Co-op in Iowa City / Coralville. I consume them mostly at home. The trees are largely self-pollinating and biennial, growing mainly in mediterranean climates such as California, Florida and other Southern states. Recently, the price of avacado has dropped because an eight year ban on avacadoes from places like Peru, was lifted. This has worried some domestic avacado ranchers. The name Avacado derived from the Spanish explorers. They couldn't pronounce the Aztec word for the fruit, know as ahuacatl, "testicle," because of its shape. The Spanish called the aguacate, leading to the guacamole we know today. (1) 1. Pathway - Avacados grown in California are grown in Mediterranean climate, essentially throughout the state. I chose an Organic farm in Los Angeles County. An established avocado orchard or ranch would be mostly self propagating. It would require watering, pest control, inspection for pre-cultivation, mulching, fertlizing, and eventual harvest of the fruit, then

packaging and transport from CA to Iowa City to New Pioneer Co-op with a total driving mileage of 1553 miles. Waste outputs of growing avocados is minimal and there is use of mulch and fertilization with animal manure. There is some runoff, but in the climate of southern California, this is minimized by soil quality which is more sandy and less apt for runoff conditions. Harvest is in October, with the fruit being mainly picked by hand using migrant labor. Once the fruit is harvested it is sorted and packed into cardboard boxes that are recyclable. The approximate transport distance between Los Angeles Basin to United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) at their Natural, Organic and Specialty distribution Center, which also has a distribution center in Iowa City, IA and distributes it to New Pioneer Food Co-op, where it is purchased by member consumers. (See Diagram) Environmental Issues Avocado orchards require varying amounts of water. Some mature groves have been met by a yearly application of 8 acre inches of water per acre (29,040 cubic feet). Whkle younger groves might need as much as 23 acre inches per acre (83,490 cubic feet) of water.(4) Reclaimed water for irrigation is especially useful in Southern California and follows all current EPA guidelines for reclaimed water. While GM Avocados will soon be available in India, currently they have not caught on in the US. As our avocados in this report are organic, no GMOs are used. Farm runoff is minimized with soil qualities of the Los Angeles Basin area being close to desert-like conditions without irrigation. (4)

3. Sustainable: The benefits of avocados as a crop is it is sustainable. Some older groves reached documented ages of 57 years (3) if the trees are free of insect, fungal and other natural pests. A more accurate estimation is between 20- 30 years of productive life. I am not sure that I

would change much as far as sustainability because from the reports in my source material, organic growers are always focused on sustainable crops that have many years of life and production of fruit to the natural foods market.

SOURCES 1. "Avocado, Avacado, All About Avocados Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://whatscookingamerica.net/avacado.htm>. This website had many sources listed in its own sources cited section and the information seemed to be logically organized and detailed. 2. Willis, Ewen. "Organic Avocodos." Organic Avocados. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.biodynamic.org.nz/guides/AVORESG_LR.PDF>. This comes from the Organic Avacado growers of New Zealand. It is in the industry, but New Zealand is one of those countries that is very aware of natural foods, sustainability and organics. 3. Goodall, G, E., T. M. Little, R. C. Rock, R, G. Platt, and A. D. Reed. "Useful Life of Avocado Trees in Commercial Orchards in California." 1970-71 Yearbook 54: 33-36. California Avocado Society. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://www.avocadosource.com/CAS_Yearbooks/CAS_54_1970/CAS_1970_PG_033036.pdf> 4. Marsh, R. H. "Irrigation of Young and Old Avocado Orchards." Avacado Source. California Avocado Growers Association. Web. 09 Oct. 2011. <http://www.avocadosource.com/CAS_Yearbooks/CAS_32_1947/CAS_1947_PG_080084.pdf>.