organic hass avocado

Ever wondered about how and where avocados are grown, or what it takes to deliver them to your plate or bowl of guacamole?

Discovery Organics, Fair Trade Vancouver, and Peacegeeks invite you to join a local community speaker event, featuring the very people responsible for bringing us our grocery avocados.

In Vancouver, the majority of our avocados come from the state of Michoacán, a region of Mexico known as the “avocado capital of the world,” a region also seeing an increase in drug violence.

Avocado farmer

Avocados are a lucrative cash crop that can be appealing to drug cartels and other exploitive groups, making it challenging for small producers to operate in an economically and socially sustainable manner while maintaining access to domestic or international markets.

In an effort to support one other (and to control the export process, including the growing, packing, and shipping of crops), 19 organic avocado producers formed the Pragor cooperative (Productores de Aguacate Organico) in 2001. Today, Pragor has over 40 growers working together to improve production methods and to increase market opportunities.

Avocados

Pragor’s avocados are marketed and sold at fair prices under the Fairtrade certification system. Additional Fairtrade premiums earned by farmers help improve their farms as well as go towards social projects to improve their communities.

Make Your Guacamole Taste Fair!

Date: April 2, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Venue: The HiVE, 210 – 128 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
Schedule: 6:30 to 6:50 pm: Guac Talk – Meet and mingle around a bowl of guacamole
6:50 to 7:10 pm: Introductions and Fairtrade certification presentation
7:10 to 7:50 pm: Impact of Fairtrade and challenges of growing and importing
7:50 to 8:30 pm: Q+A session

Speakers

Julie Sage, Fairtrade Certification and Marketing manager; Discovery Organics
Rafael Rodriguez (Mexico), Consultant and Mexican Coordinator; Discovery Organics
Gustavo Esquivel and Salvador Romero (Mexico); Avocado grower/past President PRAGOR
Brandon Rankin (New York), Director of Exchange/imports; Interrupcion New York, Argentina, Chile
Randy Hooper (Vancouver), Managing Director, International Buyer; Discovery Organics
Avery Gottfried (Vancouver), President; Fair Trade Vancouver

Pragor avocados

For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page.

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