[alanh]

"And the reason avocados have exploded in the U.S. is that most of them are no longer grown in the U.S.

"We have developed such a voracious appetite for this versatile fruit that the U.S. now annually brings in nearly 3 billion pounds of avocados."

These consecutive sentences each state as fact an opposite causality.

How can the central thesis of the article be so confused?

[jstanley]

They're not quite opposite.

High appetite -> lots of fruit imported -> consumption "explodes"

You can't consume what you don't have, so if they're not growing enough then they have to import them before they can be eaten.

Both importing and consumption are downstream of high demand, but consumption is downstream of high importing.

[szszrk]

But is that really the reason?

High appetite for avocados is the reason. Maybe combined with reasonable prices or some other factors. Importing them simply makes it possible for those purchase numbers to get that high. Means. If US would grow them in huge quantities on their own soil it would also allow for the same outcome. So how it is the reason?

My English ain't amazing, I know, but when I read "old school press" it makes me thing: am I so dumb, or are they deliberately using confusing phrasing to sound smarter than it's actually required?

[tmountain]

I guess the first sentence could be restated as, “the reason avocados have exploded in the U.S. is that Mexican avocados are much more affordable”; although, the author goes on to state that the price isn’t a driver, and touches on the necessity of getting them from Mexico for year round availability.

[ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7]

Simplistic interpretation, demand increases, supply and price changes occur inline with the demand. More external supply at a lower price, more people buy avocados.

[ckemere]

(Ironically, my dad won an award as a USDA bureaucrat for the economic analysis and rule set that allowed Mexican avocados into the US.)

When you remove a barrier to a market the intersection of supply and demand curves shifts to the right (more supply) and the equilibrium price drops and the equilibrium supply increases. “Why does this happen?” is more correctly explained by “the supply increased” because the supply curve is what changed, not the demand curve. Note that the article argues for a subsequent change in the demand curve, fueled by tax-funded advertising.

[buckle8017]

Simple, the purpose of the article is to argue against tariffs.

[Yeul]

Import tax.

[rvba]

Imported = cheaper