Letter comes two years after Welch led colleagues urging Biden Admin to address illegal deforestation linked to avocados produced in Mexico 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry, Natural Resources, and Biotechnology, today led U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) in requesting the Trump Administration seek clarification from Mexican authorities about the country’s commitment to addressing illegal deforestation in the avocado sector. Specifically, the Senators inquire as to how a new certification program proposed by the Mexican federal government would impact Mexico’s existing voluntary Pro-Forest Agriculture (PFA) certification program, which has made significant progress in screening avocado orchards for recent deforestation and unresolved environmental violations. 

In their letter to Secretary of State Secretary Marco Rubio, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the Senators request the Trump Administration inquire with Mexican authorities regarding the credibility of the new Mexican federal initiative with the Association of Avocado Exporting Producers and Packers of Mexico (APEAM) to create a “zero deforestation” certification for Mexican avocados exported to the United States. APEAM comprises the avocado producers and exporters association that administers the operational framework governing avocado exports to the United States.  

The Senators highlight that for years, avocado production in Mexico has driven widespread illegal deforestation and other environmental harm, in some cases involving transnational criminal organizations: “Most forest clearing has been illegal, yet the relevant Mexican laws go largely unenforced due in part to corruption and to threats and violence linked to affiliated criminal organizations. The consequences extend beyond Mexico: law-abiding growers on both sides of the border face unfair competition from producers operating on illegally deforested land, and major U.S. companies have faced litigation, shareholder criticism, and public scrutiny over their supply chains.” 

“The answer to whether the Mexican federal initiative is a credible effort may hinge on how it engages with an existing one. Over the past two years, the government of Michoacán supported civil-society initiative to create the voluntary Pro-Forest Agriculture (PFA) certification program that now operates at a national level. Administered by Guardián Forestal, an independent Mexican nongovernmental organization, PFA uses satellite monitoring to screen avocado orchards for recent deforestation and unresolved environmental violations,” the Senators continue. “Its results have been significant: several major U.S. supermarket chains now use PFA certification, and more than 60 packinghouses—responsible for more than 90% of Mexican avocado exports to the United States—are certified, according to Guardián Forestal.” 

The Senators urge strong U.S. support for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s public commitment to curbing agriculture-driven deforestation and work to address environmental crime in the avocado sector, but express concern about warnings from some Mexican environmentalists that the new “zero deforestation” certification program—intended to replace PFA certification—could instead be used to paper over Mexico’s longstanding failure to enforce its environmental laws while allowing products of illegal deforestation to secure export eligibility. 

The Senators continue: “Because certification requires excluding orchards deforested since 2018 or facing unresolved environmental penalties, the incentive to clear forest is reduced and producers now have a market-based reason to follow enforcement orders they previously ignored. Mexico’s federal government, with APEAM, is now preparing a national ‘zero deforestation’ certification. Many details remain undisclosed, but APEAM’s own statements indicate that orchards with recent deforestation could be certified through administrative remediation overseen by federal authorities. APEAM has made clear it intends this new system to replace PFA.” 

“There is reason to question whether a system created by APEAM and the federal government can replicate PFA’s success, because the features that make PFA effective are ones the federal framework will not reproduce,” the Senators write. “None of this means the two efforts must operate at cross-purposes. An independent, voluntary program is most useful precisely where a government program is most exposed, and PFA can continue to function even if the federal framework is delayed in the courts or weakened in practice. A credible federal initiative would build on PFA rather than displace it. Continued efforts to displace it, by contrast, could themselves become evidence—including under Chapter 24 of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement—that the framework is designed to replace a system that is effectively identifying and excluding illegally deforested orchards.” 

Read and download the Senators’ full letter to Secretary Rubio, Secretary Rollins, and Ambassador Greer. 

Last Congress, Senator Welch led his colleagues in raising concerns and urging the Biden Administration to address reports of widespread illegal deforestation and unsustainable water use linked to avocados imported from Mexico. Following the Senator’s letter, then-U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar stated that Mexican avocados grown illegally should not be exported to the United States.  

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