Green gold and dry earth

The consequences of the intensive monoculture of avocados in Chile

"If nature were a bank, they would have already saved it"
Eduardo Galeano

To access the full edit or a long form pdf please contact me at karlmanciniphotography@gmail.com

Don Gerardo Orrego looks sadly at his well. It is empty.
Once it was from there that the sap flowed to his fields, now dry and exhausted.
He relies on agriculture for a living: he sold part of the land and, in order to irrigate what can still be cultivated, he is now forced to buy water from private companies. These companies have created artificial pools, often illegal, where they draw directly from the aquifers - or what is left of it. Doña Cati is forced to ration water during certain times of the day, so as not to waste even a single drop. She cannot use more than a single bin: it must contain all the water the entire family needs.

Province of Petorca, region of Valparaiso, Chile: in this area, the homonymous river flowed strongly, through lush and verdant grounds. Now the shore is a desolate and dry bed, and the river no longer exists: only photos can testify its passage.

This past harmony was interrupted by a small fruit, that destroyed the territory and the economy of the people who live there: the avocado. Three hours away from Santiago de Chile, you will find yourself completely surrounded by this fruit monocultures, mainly of the Hass variety.

Almost all the available water is used for avocado production: this is the reason why the river flow was diverted and the aquifers have been almost completely dried up.
Everything was done in a completely legal way: the Chilean water code, approved in 1981 by the military regime of Pinochet, has turned water into a product subject to private ownership. Therefore, it was easy for large companies to obtain from the state perpetual rights to exploit the area.
The production of just one kilo of avocado requires about 2,000 litres of water, a much larger volume than most other crops. But several years ago, this fruit became a trend on the tables of the United States, Europe, China and Argentina, among others countries. The demand is still constantly increasing and, being a healthy fruit, it is part of most of the "healthy diets". It has even become the object of gadgets and other parallel productions, such as cosmetics.
This is the reason why the exponential increase in exports has strongly supported the spread of monocultures to the detriment of local populations, now reduced to poverty. The lack of water favors the spread of diseases and pathologies. And even animals, once an integral part of agricultural life, have either become a luxury, or they are poorly hydrated - meaning that they their production has decreased.

In 2019, 80% of the animals of the province died due to lack of water and grass. Skeletons can still be found everywhere.

The Movement for Water and the Territories and local people are looking for alternatives to environmental disaster, such as other techniques of eco-sustainable agriculture, innovative methods of saving and recycling water and the recreation of a circular system of production.
But the outcome of this attempt is uncertain, especially in an area that, nonetheless, is depleting its most precious asset (water), its history and its population, often forced to flee elsewhere in order to survive.

On September 4, 2022, the proposal for a new Constitution - drawn up after a year of work and obtained after two years of struggle on the streets of the whole country, and after a historic change of government by a constituent assembly made up of 155 members, reported by experts of the field as "the most advanced in the world" - was rejected.


THIS WORK IS PART OF A LONGTERM ONGOING PROJECT CALLED "IN THE NAME OF WELLNESS" that has been granted from the PULITZER CENTER on crisis reporting. ​The project documents the human and environmental consequences of the intensive superfood monocultures in Latin America and
investigates the phenomenon of environmental neocolonialism, its mechanisms, and its impact on ecosystems and local populations in order to support the market for a diet that is defined as healthy in western countries.
Through a series of stories from different countries, the project aims to connect the dots of an invisible line that runs through a widespread issue affecting the entire continent, its native resources, and communities that have already been severely impacted by the effects of climate change. How these superfood crops contribute to Latin America’s environmental neocolonialism? In recent years the demand for these resources is always increasing, pushing Western investors towards a greater exploitation that risks irreversibly ruining the environmental balance of those areas and of the entire planet.