Assignment:
I chose to address the supply and demand of the avocado. Its popularity certainly has grown, and the avocado has been the center of the breakfast revolution with the creation of the avocado toast and guacamole becoming as popular as ketchup. Avocado is now also used as a substitute for milk and cream in desserts. As such, the demand for avocado has sky-rocketed in recent years but what has happened to the supply? The price of avocadoes soared 125% in 2017 (Gillespie, 2017) due to "weak harvest and insatiable demand for avocados" (Gillespie, 2017) . A great percentage of the overall production of avocadoes comes from California; thus, I expect the supply of avocadoes to decrease due to the recent fires that have ravaged the area.
Additionally, with our climate becoming more unpredictable and extreme, crops have decreased. Lastly, because NAFTA is being renegotiated, the current administration could impose tariffs on this fruit (yes avocados are fruits). Based on the law of supply and demand, the market expects the price of avocadoes to increase this year again. My goal is to follow the price of avocados not only in my supermarket but also the national average price to see if those predictions were accurate. It will be interesting also to see if it this price increase trickles down to the price of guacamole at Chipotle or if we will see a shortage of avocado toasts.
References Gillespie, P. (2017, September 11). Avocado prices have soared 125% this year.