Data or statistical facts on the situation and perspectives of agri-food systems and the impact of policies
100 years ago, in the 1920s, American postman and farmer Rudolph Hass created the avocado variety that bears his surname, combining Mexican and Guatemalan genes to obtain superior commercial characteristics (Velásquez, A., 2025).
More than 130 thousand metric tons of avocado are imported from Mexico for guacamole preparation during the American Superbowl, evidencing the cultural and commercial impact of this product in the North American market (Velásquez, A., 2025).
7,000 germplasm accessions of Andean potato are preserved at the International Potato Center, with an estimated 4,000+ Andean varieties being edible, constituting an important treasure of world agrobiodiversity (Velásquez, A., 2025).
190 thousand million metric tons annually reach the volume of international corn trade, a cereal that evolved from teosinte thanks to domestication by the Aztecs and other indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America (Velásquez, A., 2025).
2% of global investment in agricultural research and development corresponds to Latin America and the Caribbean, well below North America and Europe (51%) or Asia (39%), according to UNESCO data (2021) cited by CAF (Velásquez, A., 2025).
1% of GDP exceeds Brazil's investment in science and technology, being the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean that reaches this threshold, according to CAF's Agricultural Prosperity Strategy based on UNESCO data (Velásquez, A., 2025).
51% of global investment in research and development corresponds to North America and Europe, while Asia represents 39%, leaving only the remaining 10% for other regions including Latin America, according to UNESCO data (2021) (Velásquez, A., 2025).
8,000 years old are the earliest evidences of avocado use in Mesoamerica, with archaeological evidence of its food and ritual importance in pre-Incan cultures from approximately 1500 B.C. in South America (Velásquez, A., 2025).
100% of large-scale U.S. agricultural producers use satellite information, much of it generated by NASA, to feed their automated precision agriculture systems for irrigation, fertilization, and other activities (Velásquez, A., 2025).
Approximately 9,000 years has the domestication process of Teosinte from Mexico and Central America until becoming the corn we know today, thanks to the systematic selection work by Mesoamerican indigenous peoples (Velásquez, A., 2025).
