Read each article linked below and summarize the implications of the events being discussed using the tools of supply and demand. Identify the following: • What has changed or is expected to change? • Explain how the supply curve and/or the demand curve are affected by the change(s)? • What would you expect to be the impact on the price and quantity? You should illustrate your answer with a diagram. Be sure to give each diagram a title, and to label the axis and curves in your diagram. Text of the article America is in love with avocados.   The country's appetite for t

Survey Of Economics
10th Edition
ISBN:9781337111522
Author:Tucker, Irvin B.
Publisher:Tucker, Irvin B.
Chapter1: Introducing The Economic Way Of Thinking
Section1.A: Applying Graphs To Economics
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Read each article linked below and summarize the implications of the events being discussed using

the tools of supply and demand. Identify the following:

• What has changed or is expected to change?

• Explain how the supply curve and/or the demand curve are affected by the change(s)?

• What would you expect to be the impact on the price and quantity?

You should illustrate your answer with a diagram. Be sure to give each diagram a title, and to label

the axis and curves in your diagram.

Text of the article

America is in love with avocados.

 

The country's appetite for the creamy versatile fruit (yes, avocados are fruit) has grown just about every year for the past 15 years, according to data from the Hass Avocado Board, invadingkitchens and menus across the country. The rise is such that sales of Hass avocados, which make up more than 95 percent of all avocados consumed in the United States, soared to a record of nearly 1.9 billion pounds (or some 4.25 billion avocados) last year, more than double the amount consumed in 2005, and nearly four times as many sold in 2000.

Once a rare treat, enjoyed only by cities on the west coast fortunate enough to sell fresh fruit when they were in season, avocados can now be found year round piled high at supermarkets nationwide, on restaurant menus in even the most remote towns, and in Subway sandwiches across the country.

 

"The demand has just been incredible," said Emiliano Escobedo, director of the Hass Avocado Board. "I think avocados are pretty much mainstream at this point."

 

Fast food chains, including Burger King, Au Bon Pain, Panera Bread Co., and others use the beloved ingredient as a sales pitch in product launches and ad campaign. And it works—after Subway announced it was allowing customers to "add avocado" to sandwiches in some 25,000 outlets around the country, traffic increased. What's more, people have come to expect it as a given: Many were less than enthused when a blog, meaning well but misunderstanding the purpose of a financial statement, mistakenly reported that Chipotle was running out of guacamole. Ok, they were freaking out:

Recipe sites are flooded with options for those who arrive with one green buttery ingredient in hand. A search query for recipes with avocados on FoodNetwork.com returns almost 2,000 results. On Food.com the same query produces more than 2,500. Recipe site after recipe site returns hundreds if not thousands of options that include salads, tacos, soups, appetizers, and sandwiches, among other dishes.

 

Even Men's Fitness took the time to publish five chiseled paragraphs about the "simple combo of smashed avocado and whole-grain bread."

 

Los Angeles still consumes the most avocados—some 300 million annually—but other cities, like New York, Dallas, Phoenix, and Houston are catching up. And many others, including Roanoke, Raleigh, and Columbus, can now eat them by the truckload.

Why the sudden outpouring of love for avocados? A few reasons stand out.

 

The most tangible explanation is that the rise of avocados in the United States comes on the heels of loosened import restrictions, which used to ban shipments of the fruit from Mexico. The restrictions were problematic, because Mexico was (and still is) the world's largest producer. Without the supply, all of avocados the United States consumed instead came from California, which couldn't grow them year round or consistently put fresh ones on supermarket shelves outside of the west coast.

 

In the late 1990s those restrictions were lifted, albeit slowly, allowing incremental increases in the amount of avocados imported from abroad. By 2000, 40 percent of all avocados sold in the United States were already grown outside of the country. By 2005, the percentage has risen to 67 percent. Last year, it was 85 percent.

It wasn't until 2007 that Mexico had full access to the United States market," said Escobedo.

 

All that extra supply, however, would have gone wasted if it weren't for improved production methods. Most avocado varieties can be exceedingly fickle, ripening too quickly to be shipped and sporting skin too thin to sit on supermarket shelves without bruising. On the other hand, the Haas avocado, which has been adopted as the mainstream variety produced and distributed around the country, ripens slowly, changes color when ripe, keeps for long and has a thick skin.

They're just more viable as a mass produced fruit," said Escobedo. "They have a longer shelf life."

 

Beyond the benefits of the Hass variety and influx of foreign fruit, the country's growing Hispanic population has helped, too. Mexican cuisine, which regularly features avocados—often in the form of a lime-kissed dip—has itself gone mainstream, riding the coattails of the nearly 40 million Hispanics of Mexican origin who now live in the United States. Escobedo attributes much of the avocado's rise to the popularity of guacamole.

Rest of text in images

 

02:23
= wp
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4 O 15%
Sign i
Look no further than the success of fast
casual Mexican chain Chipotle for
evidence that this country will take just
about as much it can get. A similar trend
can be seen in the demand for tortillas,
which has grown considerably over the
past decade.
Avocados have also benefited from an
association with healthfulness. Numerous
studies have linked consumption of the
fruit to healthier overall diets, including
one published earlier this month, and
another in early 2013. A recent revelation
that not all fats are evil has painted
avocados in a much more becoming light.
"Avocados do contain fat, but it is mostly
the monounsaturated kind [the good
kind]," New York University's Langone
Medical Center says on its website. "No
matter how you slice it, the avocado has
plenty of health benefits."
And avocados are coveted. Despite prices
that average more than $1 per fruit at
wholesale and several times more at many
restaurants, Americans continue to buy
Transcribed Image Text:02:23 = wp Subscribe 4 O 15% Sign i Look no further than the success of fast casual Mexican chain Chipotle for evidence that this country will take just about as much it can get. A similar trend can be seen in the demand for tortillas, which has grown considerably over the past decade. Avocados have also benefited from an association with healthfulness. Numerous studies have linked consumption of the fruit to healthier overall diets, including one published earlier this month, and another in early 2013. A recent revelation that not all fats are evil has painted avocados in a much more becoming light. "Avocados do contain fat, but it is mostly the monounsaturated kind [the good kind]," New York University's Langone Medical Center says on its website. "No matter how you slice it, the avocado has plenty of health benefits." And avocados are coveted. Despite prices that average more than $1 per fruit at wholesale and several times more at many restaurants, Americans continue to buy
02:23
4 O 15%
= wp
creamy enough to balance out acidity or
spiciness but mild enough not to
overpower other ingredients. They also
celebrate them as a luxury of sorts-not
quite as coveted as caviar, but hardly as
basic as a slice of green pepper or coil of
onion. "It's like a beautiful sandwich with a
Tiffany box," Stefano Cordova, senior vice
president of food and beverage innovation
at Au Bon Pain, told the Wall Street Journal
in 2012.
Subscribe
Sign i
The whirlwind success of the avocado is in
many ways a testament to so many trends
at the heart of modern day America. And
no one has benefited more than avocado
growers, who have faced record demand
seemingly every year. The growth has
become something of a self-perpetuating
process, largely because the industry's
marketing budget is directly linked to its
sales.
"As volume increases, the Hass Avocado
Board collects more revenue," Escobedo
said. "But we have to use it all to market
the product, because we're a non-profit."
Transcribed Image Text:02:23 4 O 15% = wp creamy enough to balance out acidity or spiciness but mild enough not to overpower other ingredients. They also celebrate them as a luxury of sorts-not quite as coveted as caviar, but hardly as basic as a slice of green pepper or coil of onion. "It's like a beautiful sandwich with a Tiffany box," Stefano Cordova, senior vice president of food and beverage innovation at Au Bon Pain, told the Wall Street Journal in 2012. Subscribe Sign i The whirlwind success of the avocado is in many ways a testament to so many trends at the heart of modern day America. And no one has benefited more than avocado growers, who have faced record demand seemingly every year. The growth has become something of a self-perpetuating process, largely because the industry's marketing budget is directly linked to its sales. "As volume increases, the Hass Avocado Board collects more revenue," Escobedo said. "But we have to use it all to market the product, because we're a non-profit."
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