
Superfoods and the Environment: Avocados and Blueberries from South America
Avocado and blueberry farming has turned into an environmental flashpoint in Chile and Peru, where fruit grown for European supermarkets is draining local water supplies. Journalist Matthias Ebert travels to Chile's Petorca province, where smallholders who once grew avocados for local markets now watch big landowners control an industry built on staggering water use: one kilo, or three avocados, takes 1,000 liters. Water activist and regional politician Rodrigo Mundaca explains his fight to overhaul Chile's water legislation after years of shortages hit small farmers hardest. In Peru, Ebert visits desert blueberry farms where the fruit grows in black plastic sacks on arid soil, timed to export to Germany each November and December. Water shortages haven't hit Peru yet, but producers are planning a massive expansion that would divert water from the Andes to keep the farms running. The film lays out the gap between the superfood marketing Europeans see on supermarket shelves and the water politics playing out where the fruit actually grows.