What Avocados, Almonds, and Soy Teach About Sustainability
When we think of sustainable eating, it’s tempting to reduce it to a list of good vs. bad ingredients. Avocados use too much water. Almonds kill bees. Soy destroys rainforests. But the truth is more complex — and more hopeful.
🧠 Sustainability isn’t a single ingredient problem — it’s a systems question. How something is grown, where, why, and at what scale matter far more than headlines or hashtags.
Let’s unpack that through three foods often at the centre of the sustainability debate: avocados, almonds, and soy.
🥑 Avocados: Water, Deforestation, and the Myth of Local Always Being Better
Yes, avocados have a carbon and water footprint — but the story shifts depending on where and how they’re grown.
In California, avocados are typically grown in heavily irrigated systems, requiring significant water in a drought-prone region.
In Mexico, particularly Michoacán — which produces the majority of the country’s export avocados, some orchards use rain-fed methods, but many rely on supplementary irrigation through ponds or groundwater. Mexico actually holds the highest global water scarcity footprint (WSF) for avocado production.
Critically, large-scale avocado expansion in Michoacán has also been linked to deforestation, particularly in biodiverse pine-oak forests, threatening native species and ecological corridors. While agroforestry practices exist, they are not the norm in commercial avocado exports.
Meanwhile, most international avocados are shipped by sea, not air, making their transport carbon footprint relatively low compared to their production footprint. That’s important context.
🥜 Almonds: Water Use, Bee Health, and Regenerative Potential
Almonds have been rightly criticised for high water use, especially in California’s Central Valley, where 80% of the world’s almonds are grown. A single almond may require up to 3.2 gallons (12 litres) of water.
However, the picture is more nuanced:
Almonds are perennial tree crops, meaning they have carbon storage potential, but this benefit depends heavily on management practices.
When farmed regeneratively (e.g., with cover crops, compost, intercropping), almond orchards can improve soil health and even sequester carbon. But conventional monoculture practices — still dominant — often degrade soil and require intensive inputs.
The most pressing concern? Bee mortality. California almond farming relies on over 80% of the US’s managed honeybee colonies during bloom. These bees face high stress from long-distance transport, pesticide exposure, and poor forage diversity, leading to staggering winter colony losses, sometimes over 50 billion bees in a season. While the almond itself isn’t to blame, the industrial system required to pollinate such vast monocultures is.
🌱 Soy: Feed vs. Food, Deforestation, and Supply Chain Nuance
Soy is often demonised for its role in deforestation, but context changes everything.
Over 75% of global soy is used for livestock feed, not for tofu, tempeh, or soy milk. It’s the meat and dairy industries driving most soy-related land use change, not plant-based eaters.
Soy used for human consumption often comes from dedicated supply chains (especially in the US, Canada, and Europe) with lower deforestation risk and more non-GMO or organic options. However, the market share of certified deforestation-free soy remains low, and consumers should remain mindful that sourcing transparency varies.
Tofu and tempeh remain among the lowest-impact protein sources on Earth, significantly lower than meat and even lower than many other plant-based alternatives, according to life cycle analyses.
🧭 Food Miles Are Not the Whole Story
Many assume local food is always greener. But transport accounts for a small fraction of most foods’ total footprint.
Sea freight (used for avocados and almonds) is far less carbon-intensive than air freight — about 50x lower emissions per tonne-kilometre.
What you eat (e.g., beef vs. tofu) has a far greater environmental impact than where it came from. A local steak raised on deforested land can have a larger footprint than a sea-shipped avocado.
🎯 So What’s the Takeaway?
Sustainability isn’t about avoiding one villain crop — it’s about avoiding monoculture thinking.
🌾 Rotate your plant proteins. Mix lentils, chickpeas, hemp, and grains.
🔍 Choose certified products where possible (like Regenerative Organic or Rainforest Alliance). Be cautious with labels like “Non-GMO” — they don’t guarantee holistic environmental practices.
🌎 Ask questions. Where is it grown? How? What scale?
🍽 Choose variety over perfection.
A varied, flexible diet builds resilience in your body and on the land.
Let’s move beyond fear-based food rules. Toward curiosity, diversity, and deeper food literacy. That’s what truly sustainable eating looks like.