Vertically integrated Mexican avocado importer GLC Cerritos has published its first sustainability report, which highlights the company’s efforts as well as establishes a standard for the future.
“We’re using this 2024 report as the benchmark, and then with our culture of continuous improvement is going to we want to improve on that each year,” says Giovanni Cavaletto, president of GLC Cerritos.
Cavaletto says many Mexican avocado growers push back on extra certifications such as Rainforest Alliance, GlobalG.A.P., etc., because of the added cost, but this sustainability report is proof that not only is being a sustainable grower achievable, it’s also something growers can be profitable with.
“We’re getting three times the national average on productivity. Mexico has been relatively static on the volume they ship into the states,” he says. “We can find ways to get 10%, 15%, 20% more avocados per acre. If we could get 20% more avocados per acre out of the existing acres, that’s then you get your increased supply without having to go out and develop additional properties. … We’re trying to show our neighbors that it can be done.”
And Cavaletto says that productivity is a highlight of the report, which the company’s director of sustainability, Armando Garcia, pulled together.
“Part of sustainability is to get more to get more avocados per unit of input, whether that unit of input is ground or water, fertilizer or labor,” he says. “In order to be successful in the business, one has to be very meticulous.”
Cavaletto says the Medina family, which owns GLC Cerritos, has focused on sustainability for more than 10 years. First, in 2013, when the Mexican government surveyed avocado growers on best practices, then with a GlobalG.A.P. certification in 2014, followed by the Rainforest Alliance certification in 2017 and fair trade certification in 2024, as well as organic certifications.
He says the Medina family is “doing 21st-century avocado farming” with the use of drip irrigation, a network of weather stations to fine-tune irrigation timing and soil-moisture sensors to best deploy water when it’s needed. Cavaletto says the report shows that GLC Cerritos’ efforts help the company use much less than the industry average.
“Not only do we get that greater productivity per acre, but the fruit size is also significantly larger than the industry average,” he says. “If you look at the percentage of 40s and larger, or 10-ounce fruit or larger, in the industry for avocados from Mexico, it’s been getting smaller for the last 10 years as the trees have aged.” One thing that we’re particularly proud of is having a unique presence in that larger fruit market, especially early.”
Another focus of the report is GLC Cerritos’ overall carbon footprint, which Cavaletto says the company will track from farming to packing to transportation to market.
GlobalG.A.P. certification is another way that GLC Cerritos sets itself apart from other Mexican avocado growers, Cavaletto says.
“Less than 2% of Mexican avocado farms are certified with GlobalG.A.P.,” he says, as some Jalisco growers stopped renewing certifications because the growers import into the U.S. where it isn’t required. “That’s one thing that we really think that helps to distinguish us within today’s competitive landscape.”
Cavaletto says another part of sustainability is social responsibility. He points to how GLC Cerritos recently enrolled farms and packing facility with the Ethical Charter Implementation Program. ECIP provides tools for growers to promote transparency, align with ethical standards and track progress without additional audits.
“To my knowledge, we’re the only Mexican avocado company that’s enrolled in that,” he says.
GLC Cerritos recently worked with Guardian Forest, which is a satellite imagery platform, to ensure that the orchards the company sources its avocados from have not been deforested.
“If a farmer wants us to sell his fruit to us, we can plug in their coordinates to the platform and it will tell us whether it’s been deforested in the last so many years,” Cavaletto says. “We’ve chosen not to purchase fruit from orchards this year because they didn’t comply with the norms that we’ve set for ourselves.”
As for the future of sustainability at GLC Cerritos, Cavaletto says the company will continue to track its carbon footprint, productivity per acre and water use.
“On the fair trade, we’ve grown at least 50% this year,” he says. “We’re not done yet is. We did a promotional campaign trying to communicate to the to the buyers that might be hesitant to add a fair-trade premium on top of the cost of the carton of avocados. To say, ‘You’re really only adding about 2 cents or less for the cost of the avocados on your shelf, and that can really give your consumers the confidence that you’re going out and trying to make sure that everybody in the supply chain is taken care of.”
