Unskilled labor in avocado production

The Sierra P'urhépecha in the state of Michoacán (southwest Mexico) was historically a marginal region. Its uneven terrain, dense conifer forests, and lack of extensive plains suitable for agriculture had made it unattractive to the colonial and liberal state. In the 1960s, its climate and soil convinced Californian middlemen that the region was suitable for growing Hass avocados, particularly in the district of Uruapan, a former coffee producing district whose most prosperous period lasted from the second half of the nineteenth century until the early twentieth century (Román-Burgos and Macip-Ríos 2022). They had only to clear the woodlands (Hernández-Fernández 2023: 130).