Portugal's avocados: Green gold or ecological nightmare? | DW Documentary
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- The avocado is a new superfood and its cultivation has been increasing worldwide, including in southern Portugal. But avocado plantations suck up the water in the already drought-stricken country. Local residents and small farmers are fighting back.
Matthew Ambrose had imagined his ninth summer running a vacation quinta in Portugal quite differently. For decades, Matthew ran bars and discos in the UK. Now he wants to live a quieter life in a small guesthouse surrounded by a green garden, with his donkey, a pony and two dogs. But he fears that his only well will run dry and his land will become barren. Noisy excavators surround his property. A large Portuguese fruit-growing company is tearing up cork oak and prickly pear trees and laying water pipes to create a 50-hectare avocado plantation. Three deep wells have already been sunk - even though, as Matthew points out, locals are strictly forbidden from drilling new wells after many years of low rainfall and forest fires. But the company got permits from the Portuguese authorities. Matthew frets that the company will intensively operate the plantation for ten or 20 years, causing the water table to drop and wells in the area to dry up and leaving the soil depleted and without nutrients. Despite this, the authorities are approving increasingly larger plantations, which are also promoted by the EU. This report talks to avocado farmers, local residents and citizens' groups and asks: Are Portugal's avocados like "green gold” - or just a short-term money-spinner with expensive long-term consequences?
#documentary #avocado #environment #Portugal #dwdocumentary
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“I can live without avocados but I can’t live without water”
Such a true statement
We truly can't have nice things any more...
well a single cow needs the same water at 15 avocado plants if not more...so what are we going to do? are you ready to give up meat?
I can live without water but I can't live without beer my father use to say
i love avocados a lot
Bruh not me, avocados are nutritious & delicious. Avocados, toast & beans 🔥 I'd take avocadoes over y'all animal abuse meat farms ANY DAY
I grew up eating all types of fruits and vegetables including avocadoes but only when they are in season. The problem in the West is that people want to consume things all throughout the year irrespective of their natural season of availability/production.
And it lacks taste.....
Do you live in the west?
@@nofinn1044 yes now.
Not just the West.
You are so right.where I'm from we eat them only when they are in season and we do not force them to bear year round which is what they are doing.i find those store bought avocados quite bland and taste less.
I'm glad DW is shining light on issues like this. I'm portuguese, I live in one of Portugal's great islands and I didn't know about this issue happening in the mainland as this is not mentioned in the news. It's sad to think about the future of my country as we are experiencing heat waves and water shortages in the mainland. It's insane how greedy people are.. will they eat or drink money when all turns to dust?
So well said “will they drink or eat money?….” Boycott Portuguese avocados. See, they are not even providing employment to the local people. The labor force is imported. If not for the southeast Asians, who would work these farms? Change the laws for foreign labor. Or do you have illegals like in the states?
@@ArtU4All roo late
@@ArtU4All I never ate that many avocados but knowing the impact they have I don't think I will buy them to be honest.. maybe if someone offers me avocados from their backyard or something like that.. this situation about immigrants working in plantations and being exploited only came to light because of covid. We knew about those workers but not that they were living in bad environments! I remember seeing in the news how nepalese workers came here and picked berries but their living situation was never covered. But now, we found out that there were several cases of 20 people living in apartments to be able to live and covid started spreading fast among workers so their living situation was investigated.. not only are the farm owners the culprits here, so are the landlords that will increase rent but allow this to happen.. I don't think we have illegals working in Portugal, most people are documented but because they don't know the language and are simply desperate people, they will accept the first opportunity presented.. we don't see brazilians or venezuelans working those jobs, only people that don't understand portuguese whatsoever.. this is a big disadvantage and greedy people take advantage on this unfortunately..
Inés, i am actually surprised people eat those. avocats are really bland, no taste whatsoever but greed and corruption are crazy in PT. make no mistake ,everyone knew spain and portugal exploit migrant workers to death i am surprised you've only heard of this during the covit. that's like saying the clothes you are wearing are from a weaved in Lissabon and sewed somewhere in the south.
@@PHlophe like I said, I live in Madeira, a portuguese island and not in the mainland. We don't see those kinds of migrants here because in Madeira we don't have big plantations, therefore those jobs and issues don't exist here. People from the mainland will certainly have a different experience than us and will certainly see this happening in loco and if this doesn't show up in the news, how the hell are we supposed to know about this?
Avocado might be healthy but we really don’t need to eat one or two a day. I think minimize waste and excessive consumption awareness will also be helpful
The same goes for the almond trees in California. They planted miles of them. Bees have to be brought from far away for pollination. This is not normal. And what do I see? I see almond flower for sale EVERYWHERE. Not just for holidays in specialty stores. The super sweet candy “macaroons” using almond flower are also next to cakes and other bakery goods EVERYWHERE. Overindulgence. To detriment of Nature and our bellies and diabetes worldwide.
I live in the county that is the largest avocado producer in the world. We too are in the “desert” region with fire season year-round and PERPETUAL drought. I did not know that avocado trees are water intensive. But I do remember encountering old avocado trees along some creek in Santa Barbara, and the avocados just dropping on the surrounding grass.
I definitely with the farmer - “I can live without avocado, but not without water ….”
I ate an avocado watching this
well a single cow needs the same water at 15 avocado plants if not more...so what are we going to do? are you ready to give up meat?
@@WarAuthority um, there’s hardly any waste water used in the production of soda. It’s literally just carbonated sugar water. Not making the best argument here.
@@q9c9pilrandagio5 Why grow things in excess to ship to regions that don't have the amounts to support demand. Simple, once out of season you eat something else. That's how nature was designed, no this crazy monoculture crap pushed by greedy people. All these large plantations use cheap labour. Its a sin.
"...with new jobs being created."
A few moments later...
"Industrial production requires hard physical labour in stifling temperatures... with locals these days reluctant to do the job the farms recruit workers from Bangladesh, India and Nepal..."
_Slow clap_
The woman is not a local her self. She's brazilian, probably came to Portugal looking for work as well... So she's is defending her point of view.... And not worried for what happens in the future
@@eduardoferreira2518 I didn't know that Brazilians came from Bangladesh, India or Nepal! I learn something new everyday.
@@misiu5203 Yes and giraffes are migrating to the Arctic pole, all because of climate change!
11:19 She's speaking Portuguese and has a Brazilian accent.... I may be wrong but we have many avocado trees over here, so I can imagine that is kind of hard to see any problem
@@misiu5203 aren't you playing stupid! She was the driver of the van that did not the researchers on the "private road "
When I was a child, no one used to care about avocados, we had many varieties of avocado in our yard, we never watered the avocado tree. We used to give them to the neighbors and for those who wanted to pick them up, we always left a large amount for the birds and the rest (a lot) would fall to the ground . I was raised in a tropical country, Portugal has the right temperature but not the right amount of rain for avocados trees.
Portugal does not have the right temperature, that is why the trees need to be sprinckled with water during the winter months to avoid burning their leafs with frosts.
Sam's with Jamaica. We don't pay attention to any fruit trees and they do just fine.
@@l23722 Then use the mexicola/pure mexican variëties..
Also using poor method to grow them complicates the issue, such as lack of ground cover, like living mulches...
Same here in the Northeast of Brazil. I had some avocado trees in the backyard and ate one fruit only once in a while. Most of them fell on the ground, got rotten, were eaten by bats or so. Now I see avocados being called the seventh wonder of gastronomy. 😆
So in short, leave the tropical fruit growing to the tropics
And yet...well a single cow needs the same water at 15 avocado plants if not more...so what are we going to do? are you ready to give up meat?
@@q9c9pilrandagio5 I honest to god don't know where you got your figures from but here goes.
A steer needs between 15 to 60 litres of water a day depending on the season and it's slaughtered around 12 to 24 months but a mature avocado tree needs a constant 80 litres of water and in scorching conditions it may need up to 150 litres plus it can live for many years.
So although American scale beef farming is bad for the environment it's even worse to plant avocado trees in water stressed systems
@@q9c9pilrandagio5 Don't lie son
@@njugunamaina no. Only about 10 lt /a bucket of water everyday to grow avocado/mango fruit per tree.
Where did u get ur data from? Very misleading
@@mango_kerapu . Don't lie son. It's 80 liters a day, says right in this video.
Golf courses in luxury condominiums in Portugal also consume a lot of water, destroy the preserved areas of the coast and only generate useless leisure for very few.
Exactly. At least you can eat 🥑 golf courses however are totally useless.
@@medinabello19 both are useless, grow back some forests ova there.
Can we imagine how much pollution coming from everyday lawns mowing?
Yes. Golf courses are a major problem in many countries. Definitely here in Japan.
Yeah but that they don’t talk about. 300 golf courses for 50 rich old white man to use per year is ok. But this no. Oh no, the drought!
Hugo talks about the "carbon footprint", but keeps quiet about the "water footprint".
Carbon comes out,and stays there (bad)
Water comes in,and then it comes back (that means its infinite)
The problem is not the use of a finite resource,but the expansion of mass production without the means to do it properly
How can they feed a huge focused plantantion with a local reservoir?? that's insane,the only way going foward would be to dam the whole area so they can use the water from it for farming.
The carbon footprint isn't necessarily lower either. Depends of the mode of transportation. Most Portugal exports to northern Europe go by truck, which has a much higher carbon footprint than container ships.
@@MegaVictor1129 are we talking about freshwater? cause that is not infinite
@@Mclagging98 The water from rivers end up in the sea,but for some reason they still keep pumping more and more water,why is that?
Saltwater evaporates,but the salt stays there and fresh water becomes rain,dams= using more of potencial rain water
Using wells for such farms Will surelly dry the place quickly,using dams is more realistic for industrial agriculture
@@Mclagging98 fresh water Is infinite. If it was not, you might want to let rain know that it is not real.
In the Philippines, we just let our avocado grow with itself without watering and the use of pesticides/herbicides because it is a tropical tree. It bears a lot of fruits every year.
@@RR-ll2ns mexico is #1 producer in avocados in the world by far the 2nd place, and avocados "originated" in mexico, the avocado tree is native to mexico 🇲🇽!!!
You get a lot of rain
@@ramiroflores4543 Nice
I am so disgusted with all these monocrop growers, driving, scraping up, grading destroying all the soil ecology namely the mycelium that if it hadn’t been destroyed could have provided most of the water and nutritional needs for their avocados. Look at Florida Citrus for inspiration, total ignorance.
Totally agree with this comment.
Ignorance and a a lot of greed. This is the great problem of human being
your politicians are to blame
@@perlaarrebatada9726 not all humans are greedy...
Fruit farming with trees is not possible if you change the crop annually.
Just don't farm in low rainfall areas. Follow the South African way of building ds on the farms to save every drop of water.
I'm Portuguese subscriber of DW, thanks for this report, I'm from the north and didn't knew about this.
Love to all coinscious people that DW create and brings together...
The growing of Avocado in Chile is also causing great problems. As the aquifers are lowered by the Avocado plantations the nearby residents are left without water. They have to now pay to get water it trucked in, on top of having to pay for the expensive storage tanks required.
There is an excellent video on the TRT World channel on CZcams about this problem.
It seems that as most of the farm workers in the Agave are imported from Asia there is little benefit to the local people.
Also the salmon farms are causing problems in Chile. If you haven't already, please watch the DW documentary on the salmon.
How many miles of coastline does Chile have? Oh, yeah. You forgot about that. Ever heard of a desalination plant?
@@jaypuck6912 The energy requirement for desalinating that volume of seawater isn't practical. There are millions of acres of corn in the US. Perhaps everyone should just cram a bushel of corn into their car's fuel tank ... Voila! Ethanol!
@@jacklambert2607 Being without water is less practical.
@@jacklambert2607 I just looked it up. It takes about 10 KWh to produce 1000 gallons of water. There's always a way, if there's a need.
Avocado is a tropical fruit, it means that it can be easily cultivated in those regions that got plenty of water like center or South American Countries and not in Europe.
Central America is running out of water, as well. And all the while avocado farms are increasing.
Lots in KENYA
Lets get some facts straight the greatest producer is in North America which is Mexico. Also that lady is not 100% correct depending on which species of the 3 Avocados it's not technically a tropical tree, as the Mexican and Guatemalan varieties which are the most popular ones are highland species (Hass is a hybrid of the two) while the west indies variety is tropical which is what you find in Florida and South America but it's very bland in taste which is not the one that Portugal is growing or any mediterrean region including California
It meant to grow there.
Some parts of Europe with Mediterranean climate can successfully cultivate tropical fruit, what doesn't mean we should because some cultures will ruin the land. For example here, in Portugal it's really easy to cultivate passion fruit in the summer, but the plant will probably die during the freezing winter days.
Bravo what he said, “ …i cant live without water” 💦
I hope all of the folks who are against these plantations have stopped eating avocados. All avocados - because the market is connected.
@@SolaceEasy You can live your whole life without eating one avocado.
@@SolaceEasy ... which are mostly vegetarian-environmentalists. I would call them "hypocrites."
well a single cow needs the same water at 15 avocado plants if not more...so what are we going to do? are you ready to give up meat?
Yeah. It's a good thing the country is on the coast and has unlimited water.
@11:07 the narrator mentions the activist's work is interrupted by "a local resident". She may be a resident, but being Brazilian (you can tell from her accent), she's as local as the German activists!
Exactly -_-
Exactly what I thought, I had to rewind and listen to her accent, they'd be happy to mess up the area extract all they can and go back home/Brazil they have no ties or commitment to the area and their citizens
I thought the same thing, Silvio.
This is the fault of celebrities chef advertising avocado sala,d avocado toast, avocado mouse, avocado miracle.
well a single cow needs the same water at 15 avocado plants if not more...so what are we going to do? are you ready to give up meat?
So true; Well Said
@@q9c9pilrandagio5 did you use a template for replying?
NO, this the fault of celebrity worshippers the jump on every trend.
Globalisation caused by greedy westerners, is killing the world.
Almonds in California, is depleting their water in a huge way.
Just to Add on: ANNNDDDDD AVACADOS!!!
Export water in the form of high-value-added fruits to earn foreign exchange and become rich.
Yep, California, the land is sinking from the water that's being sucked up from underground. It's gone down two feet so far last year I believe.
Vineyards are doing the same damage, as grapes require lots of water to retain fruit, as do many fruiting trees.
@@davidarundel6187 Grapes are fine and don't need such specialised areas to grow. What I find annoying is when they grow sultana grapes. There's no point in growing beautiful grapes just to dry them up. That's sacrilege.
This is the rise of the avocado toast army
Same trouble with almond farming all over the land in Australia and South America. California too. Those trees are dip fed as well and each almond needs a couple of gallons of water, bloody ridiculous.
I am Portuguese. My grandfather and father used to take care of several avocado trees, some on our backyard and I used to climb them even as little child.
Beautiful trees, great for the very warm summers.
Diego, sounds like your abuelo consumed the entire villages' water supply.
@@PHlophe We lived in Madeira, so water was not a problem on this Portuguese island. It remains like that until today.
@@PHlophe his name is Diogo, not Diego and grandfather in Portuguese is avô, not abuelo, we are not Spaniards
@@PHlophe His name is Diogo and in Portuguese it it called Avô ... what a dodo and even thinks that is so smart. DO DO .
DW, to continue the the topic of water disappearing, make please a report on water pumped by oil production companies into oil reservoirs to keep productivity of wells. Just my small company pumps 5000 m3 a day. It's madness. Avocado trees consumption is just a drop in this ocean of water losses.
Gregory, you need to stop drinking coca cola and all types of fizzy drinks because that is where your mater's going.
@@PHlophe couldn't catch your way of thinking, man, sorry 🙂
When i heard them say they will take legal action.
These people have no idea how Corrupt Portugal is.
LOL...here comes the guy from a corrupt country saying Portugal is corrupt...do us a favour!
@@l23722
What country is that.
The carbon footprint argument is used without deep thinking.
Changing glass beverage bottles for plastic was promoted with the same idea.... imagine how well that went along....
As a kid vacationing in Portugal, I still remember bringing our empties back to the store for reuse. That was around 30 years ago. I don’t remember being at all bothered by this. It was just how things were done.
In the Philippines Avocado is not an issue, each houses have their own avocado tree and if you have a surplus of fruit you give to your neighbors or friends. Bottomline this is all about man's greed.
but Papayas ( i like the Pinoy pronunciation of it Puh-Pah-iaah ! ) does as much damage there.
Big difference you get a lot of rain ...they don't
always astonished by dw works on these documentaries!
Same here
I always come to watch DW's documentaries when am deep into my fasting window.It hits differently.
Almost every African in the farmer regions has an avocado tree. We don't plant thousands of trees, because that's stupid, greedy, and frankly pointless. What Europeans should do, is copy us. Plant an avocado tree on your compound. They get no profits, you get fruits to eat, and surplus to process and store, or give away and feel good about yourselves. Then their 26000 trees become useless, because nobody wants to buy what they can literally pick off trees. Same applies to most other fruits. Best part, is that you never have to overwork yourself with them. Make it a hobby, and get healthy.
Capitalist merchants' greed needs to come to an end before it annihilates human chances of survival.
Problem is you cant grow avocados in 95% of Europe.
Yes!! 1 Tree, great. 1 thousand....STUPID
@@valtterimalinen5247 eat what you can grow, stop copying others
It's always some factory worker or CEO going "no there's no water loss, the farmers are lying"... no they're telling the truth, you're just all comfy in your privileged position to be unaffected by their strife...
well a single cow needs the same water at 15 avocado plants if not more...so what are we going to do? are you ready to give up meat?
I lived and owned property in the Algarve from the 1960’s - 2010, spending 50% of my time there. Water was always the key and most critical issue in doing anything. It’s alarming to see the Portuguese people losing control over their land, assets and talents. The need to import workers is mind-blowing! Large corporations running things like before the 25th of April… but now with foreigners?!
Wake up Portugal! You are sacrificing your heritage😱😔
The Portuguese did just that - to other people - for hundreds of years, no?
@@stefangabor5985 sadly history shows this to be true. The aspect not discussed in this documentary with regard to “sell outs”, are the massive tourist developments that took out everything in their path. Last time I was there in 2012, many were unfinished, falling into decay… it was most depressing. As for the developments that are occupied, their water and energy consumption are huge. Put all the pieces together and it’s not a pretty picture. It was once quite a paradise…😞
… btw for some time, we had no electric or water… needless to say no AVAC either lol. Water was collected in a cistern under the house. It filled up during the rainy months. We had a generator for evenings, but often sat and read by oil lamp - in the winter a fireplace provided heat. I spent a good deal of my childhood there, living in that way. It was a beautiful and valuable experience. It’s lessons have lasted thru my lifetime: conserve & respect water and all energy sources.
Human beings and friendly animals, and the stories told in books, are often more rewarding ways to spend ones time than with video games and cable TV… those were the days. Must excuse me - I’m old enough to see and value the past 😊☺️
@@stefangabor5985 what does that have to do with whats happening here?
@@eduardoferreira2518 The import of migrants workers.
@@stefangabor5985 two wrongs don't make a right
What DW calls "locals" are the german and british (and the brazilian lady).
In Kenya the trees grow everywhere, half of the fruit are actually thrown away or fed to animals
Is Kenya waiting for a white man to come and buy them for cents on the dollar?
Actually close to 70% of Hass avocados go to export the ones that get thrown are the less popular variety
No problem with feeding the lower grades of fruits to animals.
Then you get good meat for food.
And no one waters those trees in Africa
@@CHMichael what strange phrasing of a question 🤔
_"Kenya is ranked eighth in worldwide avocado production. The nation exported 26,481 tons of the fruit between January and March this year, compared to 15,101 tons in 2020."_
13:30 "Shouldn't we produce here?"
No, you shouldn't . Plant olive trees instead.
1- The guys name is "Joaquim", not "wakim". To start with he's portuguese, not spanish, so stop trying to read portuguese names in spanish, you will get them wrong. Not happy with that, even in spanish you read it wrong. 2- The woman on th road was Brazilian, she was not "local". Most people in this vide are not locals at all. 3- Acados as bad, so are eucalyptus, pine, olive trees, orange and lemons tres, etc, that you did not mentioned or worst, mentioned as "tradicional". Should I remin you that citrus trees are from humid subtropical areas, just like avacados? Pines are not native as you claimed either, they were just a different monoculture that preceeded the current ones.
I've been working for avocado producers in Mexico and this has been an issue for a long time here. Berries and avocado are fighting for water supply, water por people is not an option.
all of those avocadoes go to California and then NYC. what a shame. its like Papaya in the philippines that shit drinks water like nobody.
Avocado farming can be beneficial to the economy of a nation and job creation, but it can also cause serious consequences like water shortages especially in this era of climate change that we live in
Animal agriculture is worse in terms of water consumption
Lmao yeah no, and I live in Chile
Seems like nonsense on the job creation part, since they seem to be heavily reliant on immigrant labour. I suppose some in the community get jobs, but it wont mean much when those companies pull out and the region is screwed over in terms of job loss, economic instability and a monumental decrease in water supply and land degradation. Climate change is exacerbating the latter two even more I would imagine.
@@ruekurei88 u very CHEERFUL
@@Firm-Tofu-King This comment is quite far from the truth - at least if you were to compare it with extensive livestock farming.
Can’t wait for an update in 5 years. Like everything the demand of avocados will diminish over the years and what is profit today will become a liability tomorrow.
My company makes units that re-uses water back to the plants/trees w/a you're growing... Sooo... buy some of our units! water problem solved.
Name of company and website?
I'm Portuguese and had no idea about this problem. There's similar situations regarding other crops and the trees for the paper industry also contribute to the desertification of Portugal. And Spain!!
well a single cow needs the same water at 15 avocado plants if not more...so what are we going to do? are you ready to give up meat?
God bless those people who fight for equality, sustainability and into a healthier, greener lifestyle🙏🏻✨🌱🌏
nice, a fellow vegan.
Just not AVACADO eating Healthy lifestyle
How can public roads become private overnight? I d think the government is included in this new’ industry. Is there more pesticides used on these crops compared to the endless farms already existing?
Southern Europe is rife with corruption… Look at southern Spain as well, it’s terrible how local politicians and such are dragged into crime and exploits… google Marbella mayor crime if in doubt…
I have an avocado tree and I don't really have to water it when it matured. When it matured, it only gets water from rain. (Edit: I live in SEA)
Florida - it doesn't rain much from November to June
One tree.
You can grow most things by hydroponic means in Seattle! 😁
I always know when the dark and ominous music starts playing that the DW doc is "unveiling something nefarious".
Let me tell you a little story, in Las Vegas Nevada one famer is getting about 70% of the total amount of water from Colorado river for farming while his contribution to local economy it is less than 1%. On the other hand, the entire gaming industries in Las Vegas takes about 3% of the amount of water and yet it represents over 90% of the total state income.
Why beating a dead horse?
Let me add some more. The casinos are legally required to minimize their water consumption thru the use of low=flow showers and toilets, aerated faucets with motion sensors and recycling of grey water.
The farmer, I bet you, is not required to operate under any such restrictions. They can just splash as much water on the ground as they need.
Wow!!!
@@shelbynamels973 Wow!
well, you can't eat those gaming chips
@@onengkusumah2905 It's all about getting the priorities straight and protecting the most valuable resource, essential to life. You can have all the food you want but when there is no more water it's all over, kaputt.
Here in Norway, specially on the west-coast where the mountains catches the rain-clouds coming in from the Atlantic, we have so much water we are literally self-sufficient when it come to producing hydro-power electricity. We already have pipelines going down to Germany and Holland, supplying people there with natural gas we don't use for anything ourselves. We don't have gas-heating, gas-power plants, nor do we have a single gas-stove in the country, everything is electricity, made from waterfalls turned into dams feeding huge tubes that power turbines with the water-flow... So I imagine it's just a matter of investment to pour all our excess rainwater down to southern Europe in pipes. Investment and time.
NZ the same hydro, thermal, and wind, no nuclear power here as NZ and its waters are nuclear free. We still have a coal burning station but that's to top up the grid. We do have gas though for bbq and some water heating cooking maybe even a few cars out there running lpg.
I have been saying for years save water to my friends but alas they laugh at me, i grow my own veg and use only collected rain water.
Once the ground water is depleted,the place shall be like Southern Italy.
What an ignorant comment!
Best of luck👍DW Wonderful Work✌️
Why wasn’t an environmental impact report conducted prior to the Hugh avocado growers being giver permission by government officials…
Africa and Asia are the future since it is much easier to grow multiple vegetation. All they have to do is manage and build new infrastructure to preserve and collect rain water more efficiently.
I am portuguese and this doc makes me sad, as humans we can not live without water all people care is when it happens not what we can do to prevent it.
We are so quiet and "well behave" that we let our state to do whatever they want, just money, greed and more greed will lead us to no good!
The B&B owner have a very good point. However, why does he have such a big grass lawn in a predominantly dry land? Also, where are his water butts? There are dry country landscaping designs that would require no watering in his garden. They're all guilty.
He's not wrong that it's better to produce in Europe and avoiding the negatives of importing from central and south America... But they shouldn't be allowed to produce on such a large scale... And exploit cheap labour with shite conditions.
We don't need to eat avocados anyway :l
Wherever one looks, there is short sighted destructive greed. The best and fastest way of combat this madness is not to buy. Simple and very effective.
Haven't brought avacados, for years due to the costs involved. They used to taste better then as well - very buttery, for the Hass - the other varietys were tasty though one - round fruit - was quite watery to the taste buds.
Now hold on a minute. "An avocado tree consumes as much water per day as a family of four." I wonder what that means. I see elsewhere that a mature avocado might need 20 gallons/day of irrigation. I suppose at the same time the tree is drawing water beyond this from the soil. But as much as a family of four? That seems implausible.
I got into big fight with vegans for pointing out the fact Avocado farming and consumptiom is killing water related ecological reservoirs and other related issues. They gaslight me. I hope this program becomes really popular and teaches people about truth.
Vegan is a cult. Believe me, I was part of a vegan community but they are arrogant. They thought they know everything better than anyone else regarding the environmental issue.
@@denisdarwis3054 yes! I ran into ignorant virtue signalling bunch. It was truly unpleasant gaslighting experiences.
So, foreigners ate fighting and arguing back and forth over a problem that the locals don't even recognize?
tbh, no one that appeared in the video, is a "true local".
So let me get this straight... The bed-and-breakfast boys don't want their neighbors growing avocados because then they might not be able to fill up their swimming pool?
Well who is going to rent empty pool?
Totally. Is this moron really complaining about a farmer neighbour WHILE LITERALLY cleaning a huge pool and WATERING A LAWN?! Avocados may not be native, but neither is grass and that demands much more water than avocados.
We just want to enjoy our current moment...this greedy mentality of ours are ruining the world. Even if for food!
well a single cow needs the same water at 15 avocado plants if not more...so what are we going to do? are you ready to give up meat?
@@q9c9pilrandagio5 Cows -whether for dairy or meat, can be raised in areas of the world that don't suffer water shortages.
Growing crops like Avocado or other thirsty crops in areas that DO suffer shortages or even potential drought is very short sighted,and probably in the long run will actually damage the avocado industry itself.
@@q9c9pilrandagio5 Yeah I am a vegetarian, If you want to stop cow slaughtering go ahead I am with you!
@@q9c9pilrandagio5 Don't lie son
The local resident said:" It creates new jobs". Correct for foreigners it seems so perhaps she should investigate a little bit instead of being worried that it is a private road.
I genuinely don't understand all the fuss about avocados, they're really quite plain.
The variety sold to us. The type with little bumps, that are tiny.
Those are indeed fairly tasteless. Not much fruit either.
They are perfect for transport and last longer. The good tasting ones are not.
The avocados that grow in parts of Africa like Uganda for example, in people’s compounds and backyards, are bigger and tastier. The ones I tasted in the UK, the smaller ones from large extractive farms in South America, were not nice!
They're obviously a huge favorite across the 🌎.
Depends on the ones you eat. We have plenty here in the Caribbean, but a ripe avocado wouldn't last too long in a grocery store as I've seen in Brazil. Also, as people have said, the texture, size and taste is different.
@@BillyPhilipRwoth KENYA
Over 75 percent ofAvocados grown in New Zealand are not irrigated. I Water mine approx 1 or 2 times per year. 1000 trees high producing for export and local markets. They will happily grow with little water.
New zealand have lots of water.
That's your vegan diet right there folks
Even the worker guy agrees that carbon footprint is the no.1 enemy
And as the result treating other environmental problems as non existent.
Avocados still don't use up more water than meat. So if more people went vegetarian/vegan it could balance out. I wonder what Matthew's diet is like.
DW, my home country, the first European and Portuguese colony(Angola) does not have water problem for irrigation in terms of farming, the soil is fertile, in fact under Portuguese colony Angola was the main provider of grains(food), but if you go in Angola today, you will see people complaining about food, food is too expensive because the government turn a blind eye on local production. Angola does not produce it imports foods even though they can do it by themselves...
Imagine my shock when I realized Angola is just below the DRC and the rainforest, you guys should be agricultural powerhouses by now
@@njugunamaina now you know bro... corruption and incompetence
In New Zealand avocados are a lucrative crop and there is increasing pressure on growers from the community to stop hogging the water. We can live without over-priced exotic food.
I’m a California native that lived in San Diego county for 17 years. I can tell you that Big Agriculture rules this state and serves the water needs of these corporations at the expense of the water needs of the people. Avocado trees do t being in drought regions. Look at California, Portugal should stop these vulture capitalists that are ruining their neighbors land.
Avocadoes grow best in tropical area. They need many water to bear fruit , but actually not that much. Only about 8-16 L of water per day per tree in the growing seasons.
Better to plant them on the mountain area , bc the weather is cooler & so the water will dry up/ evaporate very slowly. Thats the practical way to save many water while growing avocadoes👍
As an indonesian i really love avocado smoothie , es puter , durian snacks💖 i'll choose them over pizza & burger & even beers!💖
For comparison, a swimming pool might lose to evaporation about the same amount as an avocado tree consumes every day.
no
Hardly a logical comparison
@@essieessie5399 Why not? They both use water, they're both unnecessary, they both exist in southern Portugal, they both use land. Same for lawns. They all, also, provide benefits of one kind or another. They compete for the same limited resource: water.
@@mrluckyuncle for the 5years that I was the primary care giver of a friend (stage 4 breast cancer) I took care of her 13ft deep inground pool. It made her happy to dangle her feet over the edge while her great grandchildren swam to their hearts contentment. even during the hottest stretches of heatwave the pool did not require an amount that is equal to the use of a 5 member family (as stated in the video per tree ) I would confidently bet less than a third would be sufficient and for only extreme circumstances. that's why no! false equivalencies
@@htopherollem649 Thanks. I only know from googling for what the typical amount of swimming pool evaporation on a daily basis is. I didn't check it myself. Seems like it could be 600 gallons/week. But it depends upon a lot of factors -- like weather. Whatever the amount is, it's worth comparing. But you might be right. I was accepting what the video says for how much water an avocado tree needs per day -- 50 gallons. But here in California, which has a climate similar to Portugal's and also grows avocados, the rule of thumb is only 20 gallons/day for a mature tree. I was going to bet you -- but now I don't know what the data are. Seems like the video might be incorrect.
1:45
It's recommended to work 35-40 hours a week. No more. So it's very important to remember it.
Recommended by who, some lazy coward?
In Asia, most people working at least 60 hours a week, that’s why Asian are kicking European ass
DW please do a report on the private ownership of water in Australia and the environmental damage the owners are permitted to continue.
Tell the locals in Portugal to do some self study into drought, a prime example is South Africa which recently experienced a severe drought.
South Africa also has a management problem. Don't blame it all on global warming.
@@CHMichael South Africa has a democratic management...far better than the murderous white supremacy and oppressive regime of the past😁
I'm Portuguese and leaving in Lagos.
I'm very grateful that they did the documentary and I'm happy they spread the knowledge and truth about this matter.
Natielle, you live in Lekki ?
well a single cow needs the same water at 15 avocado plants if not more...so what are we going to do? are you ready to give up meat?
Happy? Tomorrow they can do one on orange farming. I bet an avocado tree consumes as much as an orange tree. Would you like to wipe out orange farming in the Algarve? And orange farming hardly makes any money thanks to Spanish dumping their oranges there. So yes, if orange growing is allowed then why not avocados which give the farmer 4 times more money?
@@johannesgoes7988actually if you had made the small effort to look it up online and actually bother compare. You'd know that avocadoes need a minimum of 3 times as much water to grow as oranges and that's just the minimum and then you get avocadoes as big as an eyeball ( basically) . The global comparative amount is 5-7L for avocadoes vs 3L -ish for oranges. avocadoes are singled out for waste of precious resources for the exact same reason almonds are ( which then needs to be transformed into almond milk ) is no coincidence at all.
and this means, western nations are the largest consumers of those imported goods, those are the only continents that are turning nations into desert just because of overindulgence on goods that are supposed to be seasonal only..
@@PHlophe I have made the effort and saw that an orange tree requires 5 liters of water per day> More interestingly I saw that an orange tree produces between 100 to 150 kgs per tree and the avocado tree 600 KGS!!! As said by someone else here government should provide more reservoirs and off they go. The Algarve is very dependent on just tourism and a greater income from agriculture should be welcomed. With 600 kgs per tree, there is no reason not to pay Portuguese workers a decent wage.
Many of these mediterrean climates have the same issues as California did with water shortage and just don't get enough heat for multiple crops unlike Michoacan Mexico that's why California gave up on mass producing it. But Avocado is the greatest crop one can grow, literally green gold, a big bang for the buck. Also that lady is not 100% depending on which species of the 3 Avocados it's not technically a tropical tree as the Mexican and Guatemalan varieties which are the most popular ones are highland species (Hass is a hybrid of the two) while the west indies variety is tropical which is what you find in Florida and South America but it's very bland in taste and they are not growing it
Colorado River, yup!
The smooth skinned green avocado is only bland when it’s not grown in its native environment. They also don’t ship well. They taste better when you eat them in the Caribbean where they are grown.
@@t4squared Totally agree! I have tasted fruit from several tropical countries and they all taste much better than from non-tropical countries.
@@t4squared I have yet to taste one that's good I been to Colombia, Jamaica, Miami (which has the best of those but still not as good) and Puerto Rico also yucatan/ Quintana roo. They can be better than worse but could never compare to the Guatemalan like Nabal, Nimlioh, Reed or the hybrid of Mex/Guat
@@alexcontreras6103 They are just a different kind of avocado, I have had plenty of delicious ones in Jamaica. I wouldn’t expect them to taste the same as the bumpy skinned ones.
Once again we are your grateful for your benevolence
The "local" concerned with the presence of the team collecting a soil sample is not that local. She spoke Brazilian Portuguese giving up her foreign upbringing.
Dont worry, Portugal will become a brazilian extension until 2030... So brazilians gonna be portugueses...
Wow, I did not realise. live in a sub-tropical area of eastern Australia. The avocado tree outside our bedroom window has flourished greatly in recent times, and now I know why. It is feasting on the waste water we don’t put in the septic! Avocados, like mangoes, don’t like wet feet and so it must be sucking up all this excess water and keeping the ground below fairly dry, which I found puzzling at first.
Portuguese farmers are such polyglots, they speak all European languages: English, German, French... 🙂
@@joelmatos8321 Foreigners are not stealing anything. Very ignorant and xenophobic of you to put it that way. In the contrary, they are giving life to land that had been previously abandoned by the portuguese, who either migrated to the coastal cities or went abroad.
@@ZEROZERO-xx3qm Well said! Foreigners can't steal anything. Foreigners have to purchase the land of those ignorant farmers that could not adapt to change and followed a very dangerous path of monocultures during the 90s with expectations to fail and get reimbursed by EU compensations from CAP!
Great documentary. Countries that have little rainfall should not be growing tropical fruit. I usually buy avocados 🥑 maybe twice a month. Usually two each time because inevitably one will be rotten. I feel like most of the stores throw out more than they sell. I’ll definitely stop buying them now! Governments need to wake up and start protecting water supplies and stop the use of herbicides and pesticides. It’s a battle here in Canada also. With monoculture tree farms etc.
Same in Spain, lots of new plantages yet, the Spanish government warns about water shortage in the near future
Excellent documentry. Gold standard reporting.
In Portugal mattering where you live you get 57 to 20in. per year. The Algarve is at the lower end, but residents might consider gather rain for agricultural use. It is successful in the arid southwest of the USA and dependents not on rainfall, but gathering dew in the early hours.
Well, 20inch is just short of what London gets. So, indeed there is a mismanagment of water reasources. Said that, the problem is that monocultures cause way more harm than just water shortages and I mean all of them, not just avocados. Orange or Lemon groves are no better, olive and almost groves are destroying Alentejo, Beira Interior and Trás-os-Montes, the fires one speak so much about, started with the Pine monocultures that in this video was presented as "native" when in fact is an invasive species produced for economic reasons (before the arrival of the eucalyptus). We need a good reforestation project with natives trees, not forein olives trees, oranges trees, carobs trees, almond trees and all the other "mediterranean" crap that people gew used to associate with Portugal and that are actually non native at all!
They bring up how the area was used for cattle, and try and act like they are better any than avocado trees. these are some facts on both.
"A nonlactating cow or bull needs one gallon of water per 100 pounds of body weight. As an example, spring-calving cows will need close to 20 to 24 gallons of water per day for themselves and another 5 to 10 gallons for their calf in these high temperature environmental conditions."
"Newly planted trees may need water two to three times per week their first year. Mature avocado trees need water equal to about 2 inches of rainfall or irrigation each week during summer. Fertilizing - Avocados do best with plant foods designed specifically for avocados and citrus."
Am I vegan or someone who uses avocados no. I use avocados at most once a month if that. As for being vegan or vegetarian nope not one of those either. I am just making a point both industries are bad, but it is kind of funny when people try and act like animal farming is somehow better. My advice is simply this to change the world. Stop raising so many animals when there are other sources of protein out there. Have meatless days maybe once or twice a week, and avoid crops that consume a ton of water.
We are facing huge problems because of greed and carelessness, and the only way we have to fight back is to vote. No not in elections, but with our dollars. If we all want change we should stop buying things that are harming the planet. Are you worried about over fishing and the state of the ocean? Well stop buying cheap plastics, and don't buy endangered fish. You don't like how forest are being destroyed for animal farming? Stop eating meat every day or just cut back. It drives me nuts how people treat meat as a be all end all status symbol any way. My point is this you want change and things to get better stop waiting for big companies to suddenly care about you or the environment over their investors.
Big companies will never take responsibility for the environment without being forced.
@@alanmclain7072 You aren't wrong greed, and profit are what drives them not helping others or the planet. I mean at most the planet just has to last long enough for their grandchildren. After that who cares?
I say that but idk I always try and do as little harm as possible, but I can admit I am no saint either. I still pollute and do wasteful/harmful things as far as the planet is concerned. It is just a shame things have to be the way they are.
When you force a non-native specie to grow and thrive, often times, it has devastating effect on the local ecosystem.
Great documentary! You should do more about Portugal, there's a whole lot to speak about!!
Avocado consumes a lot of water but cattle consumes more
They piss it out on the grass......
Now is avacoado season here and for the rest of winter. Happy days .
Portugal has plenty of water that’s why the plantations pop up, the land is a resource and water management is up to the state. I prefer to see more farming communities than golf courses and it’s not just big corporations but also small local and foreign farmers who are cashing in.
Wow i m so excited for New video.
I was talking about this over a year ago until I was blue in the face! Vegans have a fad for avocado recipes for the last couple of years, and I got fed up with them saying how meat-eaters were "destroying the environment" as though they were angels! Well, Vegans not only eat tons of avocado pears, they also are happy to eat lots of imported fruit and veg, or out of season fruit and veg, that have been shipped or flown in, or held in freezers, both creating tons of C02, and helping destroy the environment!!!
Ranches consume far more water. A cow consumes 110 - 190 liters daily of water, where an avocado tree consumes half. Half! Even during the irrigation season!
& 1 year of tree of produce is nearly 1 cow's lifetime. It's not even close.
@@AlyxGlide But a cow supplies many more people that an avocado tree with 20 pears on it!
DW is one of the world's best news sources.
Thanks for watching and for the support!
Haven't heard about this shit anywhere on the news. Great work DW, and wtf TV news?
Don't you love it when a British immigrant thinks his private pond and water for his guest house is more important than growing food for the country he just moved to?
THIS!
I used top be a vegetarian and eat avocados everyday and then I watched a documentary about the devastation avocado farming causes and that in south america it is controlled by the same people as cocaine.............
I now eat free range english meat from animals raised on grass in the UK. No drug cartels, or air miles and if organice many gains for biodiversity..............
Apparently, transport's footprint is three times as high as farmings so don't go on about methane.................... Simple unprocessed local food is the way to go................................
Many people don’t want to eat corpses these days. You can also eat locally grown vegetables and fruits. It’s nice you’ve set your story straight in your own head tough
@@LiquidShivaz your brain washed vegan=death cult..
all true but people are idiots and you cant educate a single one of them.. good you saved yourself though..good job.
You forget that avocados also come from East Africa, Vietnam and China
@@LiquidShivaz Lol sure, let's see how a scandinavian country can live off locally grown veg and fruit only. The volume of food in calories needed from non animal sources is enormous, and what will you eat when there is a bad harvesting year? Delusional priviliged vegan.
DW IS MY FAVORITE CHANNEL
The best avacado I have ever tasted was grown by a parking lot in Pasadena California. No one picked them, so I waited till they fell to the ground & collected them. The taste was superb - modern avacados are bland in comparison. I feel they harvest them too soon - tree ripened avacados are a real treat.
How come you only have 1 variety of avocado tree............. Here in my country we have a lot of variety and it only bears fruit in season........ Your avocado tree has a lot of chemicals to force the tree bear fruit.......... We have very good variety we called malagkit it means sticky...
What a great alternative to farm from dairy!
High-producing milking cows can consume up to 200 L/day of water, while sheep can drink 40% more during summer than winter.
exactly, this is a veggy-hate propaganda
Why replace the animal agriculture with something so inefficient and high fat? Just plant beans and potatoes.
@@stan8926 A example, an avocado contains the same amount of saturated fat as three slices of bacon.
Bacon increases the levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol (10Trusted Source).
However, eating about a half to 1.5 avocados daily actually reduces levels of “bad” LDL (Low-density lipoprotein)
WELL! At least the animals put back the water they drank. No one had to pull water out of the ground for them. They put the water back after they drank it. You're just going to piss it into a porcelain bowl.
Thanks, another great documentary.
Thanks for watching and for your support!
Thank you for sharing this latest information 🥑
🇵🇹 Portugal is so very beautiful 😍
Much love 💕 to everyone 🫒🍒🥝🍎🥬🍋🍇🥗🍤🍷🍄🌷🌾🌿🐿🦩🐓🦢🦚🦜🦤🐟🐠🦋🐝🐌🦄🦉🐶🧤🧚♀️
Great documentary. As a Portuguese I’m sad to see that the majority of people in the documentary were not Portuguese. They were German, British and even the van driver was Brazilian. Looks like the Portuguese don’t care at all…all they want is money in the pocket.
Luis, it looks to me as if the only people that dared to speak WERE the brits and aleman living there. that's the real tea.
The portuguese farmers were too busy trying tomake a living growing their oranges. Loads of "expat" busy bodies looking fr something to feel good about.
@@PHlophe Algarve is basically owned by germans and brits, they get in bed with local corrupt authorities.
Locals (natives) are just to busy surviving.
What an absolute shame. Portugal is one of my absolute favorite places and I was blessed to spend a good amount of time in the Algarve. Back then there were really no signs of mass scale crop production- only quintas growing the usual oranges & lemons and older men shepherding their small herds of bell-adorned cows- the same as it has been for centuries. This was only a few short years ago! Unbelievable to see that this paradise is being ruined all for the purpose of supplying a continent with a non-native fruit that has now become trendy. In Mexico the booming avocado production has been taken over by cartels who've ran off and KILLED farmers. As crazy as it may sound the media is at least partly responsible, they declared avocadoes a "superfood" and taught people they should eat them with everything including toast. 10 years ago people hardly cared about avocadoes, now they expect them to be available every single day!
LOL...Oranges and Lemons are non native monocultures. It seems that there were signs. Do you want more signs? Carob trees, almond trees, olive trees, etc. All of them are non native to Portugal, all of them are causing the same problem, all of them are grown in monocultures, all of them are the reason why you can't find a single place in Algarve with an intact native forest. This is going for hundreds of years. So yes, when you went there there was signs already...more then sign, the catastrophy was already in motion!
If the short term rental hosts were concerned about the environment, they should do something about that huge lawn.
Not that I consume much of it but this made me rethink having avocadoes on my grocery list. I really hope small scale farmers who practice sustainable farming would get help from the government and that corporations on the other hand are penalized more. This will encourage small, sustainable farms to thrive and become more affordable while making it harder for corporations to sell goods at a bargain price. With the climate emergency, a lot more people are making conscious decisions and although personal actions can only contribute a little bit to the whole picture, being mindful of our consumer decisions will surely affect those who contribute most to the problems we’re having now- corporations/capitalism.
Thank you! My first thought was "is this moron complaining about his farmer neighbour while LITERALLY CLEANING A HUGE POOL AND WATERING A LAWN?? Avocados may not be native flora but neither is grass! And that's even more water consuming than avocado