Framed as a “green gold rush,” the rapid expansion of avocado production in Michoacán has generated serious socio-ecological consequences, from deforestation and water scarcity to cartel violence and territorial dispossession. This research investigates the power dynamics embedded in Mexico’s avocado agribusiness through a political ecology lens, tracing how global commodity demand intersects with environmental degradation and contested land governance.

Using two contrasting case studies, the project reveals how both state policies and market actors reproduce unsustainable and undemocratic rural development models. In response, it calls for democratic agrarian reform that centers sustainability, territorial rights, and community well-being.

The research is developed in parallel with the visual investigation Green Gold, co-directed through the Documentary Campus Masterschool and supported by The Redford Center, Creative Europe MEDIA, and the Rogovy Foundation. The project was also awarded Middlebury College’s Kellogg Fellowship and the Scott A. Margolin ’99 Environmental Studies Award, recognizing excellence in the integrated study of human and natural environments.