Trendy foods: Salmon and avocados | DW Documentary

avocados and salmon are in high demand in Europe right now avocados are shipped all the way from Mexico they bring people their prosperity but can also bring death organized crime gangs are waging a war against small-scale farmers and they are fighting for survival it's an awful situation salmon farming is booming in Chile that's had a negative effect on the environment and the local residents for the big companies salmon are more important than the workers [Music] this is the state of michoacán in southwestern Mexico the world's largest producer of avocados avocados are a lucrative crop that provides jobs for thousands of people this is wild country the residents are strong and independent and they enjoy a good time we Mexicans are crazy this fruit is about the right size ecto cervantes and his neighbor's own small avocado farms the harvest season is just getting underway they keep growing we can start harvesting now 20 years ago we were just getting 9 cents for a kilo of avocados sometimes who didn't even harvest them because it was cheaper to let them rot then take them to the market but now avocado exports are booming farmers can get up to 6 euros a kilo and earn a good living we call avocados green gold all that new prosperity caught the attention of organized crime gangs they started extorting protection money from local farmers those who refused to pay up were killed or simply disappeared just take over the fields or they forced farmers to sell the land dirt cheap some people don't want to transport their crops to market because they're afraid they'll be attacked the market think that's a pattern where there's money to be made you'll find organized crime they didn't arrow six years ago some of the farmers started fighting back they formed their own security force these people have exchanged their farm equipment for weapons a tour leads the security force and provides a rigorous training program they're on the community we put this force together because we had to none of our farmers were safe we wanted to stop the crooks from taking over our community the criminal again so the local residents are fighting a determined and unscrupulous opponent the criminal gangs are involved in drug dealing extortion robbery and murder and they're fighting each other for control in the region the gangs will not hesitate to eliminate anyone who tries to get in their way and that includes farmworkers and avocado traders the criminals have also moved into actor's hometown sure are too just a few hundred people live here most belong to an indigenous group called the purépecha the community has joined forces to stand up to the crooks [Music] the authorities have now designated the local security force as an official police unit in years past the regular police should have cracked down on the crime gangs but they didn't the movie we saw criminals who actually go out on patrols with the police my motivation is the fear that they'll kill our families and take our money and the authorities won't do anything to stop it every patrol is dangerous at door has often been shot at by criminals but he continues his work to protect his family his neighbors and their farms we've officially declared war on organized crime maybe now they'll think twice before they try to take over our land not on a synthetic body but it's like David fighting Goliath a similar battle is underway in Chile here on the island of chiloé another trendy food salmon is mass-produced on fish farms until recently the local economy was focused on the harvesting of shellfish like mussels oysters and sea snails the islands population has grown sharply along with the boom in salmon exports salmon are native to the northern hemisphere as fisherman Luis Munoz points out he takes us to visit one of the salmon farms there are some dolphins out here today the farm consists of pens that contain up to 12,000 salmon each Lewis quit his job here when he realized the extent of the environmental damage the problem is that much of the salmon feed just sinks to the seabed there's also a lot of fish species down there and all that stuff just piles up sometimes to a height of 1 meter we're a position here exports of fish farm salmon are booming thanks to the huge demand [Music] Gustavo Cortez has been working in the salmon industry for 23 years he's a trade union official and speaks openly about the poor conditions that workers face in the factories you know when I'm getting them you you know there's a real climate of fear the boss is constantly threatened to fire us if we don't meet the production quotas or if we don't volunteer to work overtime up to a hundred and fifty thousand salmon a day are harvested and then sent to the factory they're said to be pumped full of antibiotics to help prevent disease environmentalists say the dose is over five hundred times higher than the amount used in Europe Luis marina Soto worked at the factory until she was injured in an industrial accident a year ago since then she's been unemployed she hopes that Gustavo's union can help her Luz marina still suffers from shoulder and back pain maybe they knew I was turning around and a big fish container hit me in the back that's the last thing I remember I passed out you're the a Newman point of the working man petite died only later I asked my boss whether he could take me to the hospital and he said it wasn't his problem let me give me bord de luz marina worked for the salmon company for eight years on a seasonal contract so she received no compensation or severance pay I'm 60 years old now and I hope that I'll at least get a minimum pension my children buy food for me that's the only way that I can survive the company ruined me and caused me a lot of pain Luz marina still has not recovered from her injuries she has a hard time walking gustavo says this is not an isolated case such incidents are common in the salmon export business still the salmon industry has brought some prosperity to the town here Gustavo attends a meeting of factory workers and managers they discuss whether or not seasonal contracts are still appropriate one manager says they are if you have production year-round and then give people temporary contracts that would be legal but salmon production is a seasonal business so we employ workers on a temporary basis only the city of tan Sottero is seen as the global center of avocado production it's a key part of the city's economy some of the local residents don't like people asking questions these activists are going to show us some forest land that's been cleared they're worried about possible attacks so they bring weapons people in this region are obsessed with money so you've got to have a gun to protect your children's future and our natural resources like the water and forests the Michelle Cain region was once covered with forests but a lot of the trees have been cut down often illegally to make room for a picado farms activists fought for three years to try to save the forest on this hillside but they failed the green gold has made people greedy criminals but also some farmers as much as him identical we even fight among ourselves but we have to stand up to the big companies that are causing all these problems the mandelic acid was candy was worthless some workers were illegally cutting down trees here they left as soon as we arrived the area is being cleared probably to make room for an avocado farm the farmers resort to illegal methods to reach their goals here loggers have cut into a tree so that it will dry out and die sometimes part of a forest simply burns down by accident some of the fires are reported by anonymous sources and later avocado plants suddenly appear in the same area sometimes the fires are set but it's only the forest land that burns never the avocado plantations we know that it's not a coincidence now we're going to change vehicles in case troublemakers try to follow us this entire section of forest land has dried out the avocado crops have drained off all the water but forested areas need to be protected to help maintain the supply of ground water we're killing trees to make room for avocados it's awful these huge pools provide water for the avocado crops it takes about 300 litres of water to grow one avocado the plantations also use pesticides which can damage the environment the local residents are paying a high price for these crops avocados generate a lot of income but Mexico is ruining its air and water so that the rest of the world can enjoy these foods can make it no one talks about that shocks Aquino resto el mundo a major source of environmental pollution in Chile is salmon feed it's stored in harbor depots like this one the feed contains a pesticide that was banned in Europe years ago it can only be used in salmon feed otherwise the feed would perish environmentalists say that this is a serious problem in Chile much of the salmon feed is made from soybeans and rapeseed so these salmon have been turned into vegetarians simply to cut production costs and keep prices down for this popular food a lot of the soya beans used in salmon feed are grown in the Brazilian state of mato grosso this factory produces soybean meal exclusively for salmon farms 18,000 tons per month traces of pesticides are often found in this material a company official explains why Apple Blossom Lincoln is seeing demand for this product is growing farmers have to use these chemicals to help increase productivity this year alone more than 150 new pesticides were approved for use in soy monocultures in Brazil farmer Jose dos rice says pesticide residues have been found in the local drinking water and even in the feed of his dairy cows crop-dusting plains owned by big companies Spray right next to his land they target their own fields but the clouds of pesticides spread to other areas the chemicals gets into the surrounding environment such methods are banned in Europe but they are common in Brazil Jose takes us to visit an organic farmer who lives nearby he says he's lost all his crop because of the pesticides used by the soybean farms look at these holes three days after they sprayed all my crops died let chicory and radishes they were all gone partner now he plans to harvest these remaining plants before the spraying starts again but the soybean farms continue to grow to keep up with the booming demand for salmon feed [Music] in Chile the salmon farms are becoming increasingly unpopular especially among traditional fishermen this crew is harvesting shellfish off the coast the yellow hoses provide the divers with oxygen hoses Sanchi has spent an entire hour underwater he has to use some strange equipment for these dives that's my backpack these days there are fewer and fewer divers because they can't find enough work I've trained at least 15 divers to harvest shellfish I'm proud of that because they were good divers but supplies of shellfish are running out so many of those guys quit diving the divers are convinced that pollution caused by the salmon industry is responsible for the decline of the mussel population organic materials from salmon pieces and feed are spread throughout the ocean by the current cause algae blooms like the ones we had in 2016 the algae made fishing impossible local residents held protests and blocked roads and ferry docks for three weeks the demonstrations were directed mainly against the salmon industry [Music] veterinarian Juan Carlos Cardenas supports the shellfish divers in their dispute with the salmon farms and he says that there are too many antibiotics in salmon feed and the farms need to reform their labor practices in doTERRA Salman usually salmon industry has the longest working hours and lowest salaries and the most violations of workers rights in the world and even mundial still into tennis almost an increasing number of the divers who work at the salmon farms suffer from decompression sickness if they come back to the surface too quickly air bubbles can form in the circulatory system and block the blood vessels more and more of the divers have come to this local hospitals seeking medical treatment for this problem they too are paying a high price so that consumers in Europe can eat salmon the divers have to spend two hours in the region's only decompression chamber which simulates a depth of 18 meters the process reduces the size of the air bubbles and eventually eliminates them the salmon industry does not provide any financial support to cover the cost of these treatments you would think that these companies would want to make sure that we take proper care of their divers but I think they're more interested in profits than in the health of their workers they receive no financial support here Juan Carlos visits a woman whose husband was killed in a diving accident hawala sanchez has come to terms with her husband's death but she believes that the accident could have been prevented I was cooking dinner when my sister came in crying and she said Luis had been involved in an accident and they couldn't find his body and looking I was in a state of shock Joe I didn't cry I didn't scream I just kept saying no no no no no no no Luis Navarro died while he was repairing salmon cages for an export company he was about 40 meters underwater at the time in Norway her after muchos anos you know in Norway they haven't had accidents like that for several years Chile is the world's second largest exporter of salmon but we still have these third-world kinds of accidents consumers in Europe need to know that when they eat salmon from Chile it has the blood of workers on it Environmental Protection groups criticize a lack of worker safety programs and a salmon industry that seems to repeatedly break the rules [Music] Chili's Minister of Economy and development can in part accept this criticism and has promised to make improvements it's a new industry that breeds a species from the northern hemisphere here in the South this is all fairly new in Chile and we're still learning about the impact that it's having we study the problems and make corrections on Iran but the bottom line is that salmon exports benefit the national economy to such an extent that the salmon industry is expanding its reach further south into the waters of Antarctica there seems to be no end in sight for the boom in salmon production increased avocado production has brought wealth to Mexico but has also caused hardships for some Lara Orozco and her family had to flee after a crime gang stole their land mom where are you I'm home we've agreed not to reveal where they're living now we had to leave we were forced to move several times because we feared for our lives the vfe seeker Laura's family once owned a number of avocado plantations they worked hard and saved their money later they bought more land 11 years ago Laura's father was kidnapped later two brothers went missing no trace of the three has ever been found my father was very ambitious he said that there's a solution for everything except death after the kidnappings the rest of the family was forced to abandon their land it's all Jonathan our lives were turned upside down I never expected to have to live like this those people destroyed our lives so these days we're not living we're just getting by being the quarry be more sadness [Music] we've now traveled to the region where Lara and her family used to live there's a tracking device on the roof of the car in case they're run into criminals as we approach the site of their old plantation Lara and her mother become increasingly nervous even for a tingle I keep looking in the rearview mirror to see if anybody's following us say no be an alien we've got an anonymous phone calls and people we don't know show up at our door a video gente suspect Joseph where are the nostrils on me seals they followed us and have threatened to kill us where are we man novel atom and each other they were yeah my dad I think it's this way we film the property from a distance the new owners are now making money with crops that used to belong to Laura's family there are armed guards over there you can't get too close or they'll kill you they might but no Laura says that no one has helped them to try to get their land back it's a return to a place that used to be yours this land was taken from us Kate alone arrived atado pair okay look we built that farm with our own hands and the help of our friend it was a lot of hard work that was our life but it's all gone now [Music] they claimed that the military and police were involved in the kidnappings and that the authorities work with the criminal gangs [Music] el fin de de la operación de éstos they kidnapped members of my family so that they could take over our avocado farms there were Cathy for 11 years now the family has fought for its rights now they want the land that they still own to be transferred to Laura's mother since her father is still officially listed as missing if this can help us to regain our dignity and prove that everything that we've been saying is true he was a developer for years laura has been waiting step by step through the government bureaucracy but there always seems to be something wrong with the paperwork it's frustrating some of the officials are no help at all they're insensitive and incompetent once again Lara has made no progress today she has to make a new application because some bureaucratic errors were somehow made in the original one but she won't stop fighting until her family gets their land back and she finds out what happened to her father and brothers even if she dies in the process the avocado crop has ruined her life for me and my family it's the greatest tragedy of our lives those who produce trendy foods like salmon and avocados often pay a heavy price for their efforts the dark side of this business

Channel: DW Documentary

Views: 758,052

Rating: 4.856462 out of 5

Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries, documentaries, DW documentary, DW documentary 2019, full documentary, documentary 2019, DW, beyond the news, avocado, salmon, Latin America, trendy food, Mexico, Chile

Id: mcYr040cLNc

Length: 28min 25sec (1705 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/PrincessBananas85]

I'm definitely going to give this Documentary a watch.

[u/WhatTheHosenHey]

Two things I love to eat and now I will be ashamed when eating these delicious foods.

[u/peoplesodumb]

Glad I gave up avacados, would rather buy ammo for the farmers directly.