Is Eating Apricots Ethical & Sustainable? Here Are the Facts
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Apricots are a booming American industry, with more than 40,000 tons produced each year. They also happen to be a delicious treat, popular in jams or as a dried fruit. However, there can be a significant amount of unethical and unsustainable qualities to the production of apricots. So we had to ask: Is eating apricots ethical and sustainable?
Eating apricots is fairly unethical. This is mainly because of reports of child labor and worker exploitation in Turkey, as well as difficult worker conditions in the US. However, there are no major reports of child labor within the US.
Eating apricots is moderately unsustainable. This is mainly because they use a high amount of pesticides and styrofoam packaging in their production. However, they don’t require a lot of irrigation or use harmful fertilizers like nitrogen.
In this article, we will assess both the ethical and sustainability practices of the apricot industry. Through these two lenses, you will be able to gain in-depth knowledge of the overall impacts of the apricots that you eat!
Here’s How We Assessed the Ethics & Sustainability of Apricots
The Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture Systems (SAFA) is one of the ways we measure the externalities of our actions, like the consumption of apricots. It is a holistic assessment based on the potential impact of food and agriculture operations on the environment and people. Those impacts are changes in our environment that can have adverse effects on the air, land, water, fish, and wildlife or the inhabitants of the ecosystem.
“Ethical: The discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad and morally right and wrong”
Encyclopedia Britannica
Ethics and sustainability are closely interconnected concepts that share a common objective: the well-being and preservation of our planet, including all its life and future generations.
“Sustainable: The ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level | Avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance”
Oxford Dictionary
Basically, all goods and services you buy—including apricots—leave an impact on people, animals, and our environment. And when it comes to food in general—and apricots in specific—the following are key factors for their ethics and sustainability:
- Social and economic conditions: The ethics of food crucially depends on the social and economic conditions of the farmers who grow them. Especially on fair labor practices, including fair wages and safe working conditions.
- Seasonality: Eating seasonally is a lever of sustainability. The two key reasons are that seasonal food is more likely grown in their “natural growing season” without using greenhouses, and also more likely to be grown locally.
- Land requirements: Large parts of the world that were once covered by forests and wildlands are now used for agriculture. 10 million hectares of forest are destroyed annually and 50% of the world’s habitable land is now used for agriculture. This loss of natural habitat has been the main driver for reducing the world’s biodiversity.
- Water footprint: 70% of global freshwater is now used for agricultural purposes. By assessing the water footprint of a particular food, we can determine how our limited freshwater resources are being consumed and polluted.
- Pesticide and fertilizer usage: Pesticides and fertilizers provide a range of agricultural benefits. However, numerous studies link pesticides and fertilizers to serious effects on human health, along with disruptions to vital ecosystems and the spread of aquatic dead zones.
- Carbon footprint: The carbon footprint is one of the ways we measure the effects of our human-induced global climate change. Today, food production accounts for over a quarter (26%) of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Waste generation: Food and its packaging account for almost 45% of the materials landfilled in the US alone. And packaging sent to landfills, especially when made from plastics, does not degrade quickly or, in some cases, at all.
To understand the overall environmental impact of apricots, we must assess each of their key factors. This Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture Systems (SAFA) is a tool developed for assessing the impact of food and agriculture operations on the environment and people. And this tool helps us to evaluate whether eating apricots is ethical & sustainable.
Here’s How Ethical & Sustainable Eating Apricots Is
The overall ethics & sustainability of apricots is fairly bad. The main factors that contribute to this are reports of child labor in Turkey, high pesticide usage, some irrigation, and styrofoam packaging.
The apricot industry does a lot of things right in terms of ethics and sustainability. They don’t exclusively use monoculture farming, nor do they use some of the more harmful fertilizers, and their irrigation needs are small. However, they still have some qualities that can be very unsustainable.
So, let’s have a look at the ethics & sustainability impact of each key factor of apricots!
Key Assessment Factors | Ethics & Sustainability |
Social and economic conditions of apricots | Apricots’ social and economic conditions are very poor. This is mainly because of the reports of child labor in Turkey. Furthermore, in Chile, where the US imports most of its apricots from, farm workers are often exposed to poor working conditions and low wages, especially women. |
Seasonality of apricots | Apricots’ seasonality is between May and August, depending on the state. Because they need to be imported from Chile for the rest of the year, they are much more sustainable during this period. |
Land requirements for apricots | Apricots’ land requirements are moderate. Though they don’t use widespread monoculture farming methods, they do use a lot of pesticides, which negatively impacts wildlife. |
Water footprint of apricots | Apricots have a low water requirement of 25–30 inches of water per year. Because of where they are grown, they need a small amount of irrigation, which means their water footprint is fairly low at this stage. |
Agrochemical usage for apricots | Apricots’ agrochemical usage is moderate. They use a lot of pesticides, but the types of pesticides they use are minimally harmful. |
Carbon footprint of apricots | Apricots have a low carbon footprint of 0.16kg (0.36lb) of CO2e per pound of apricots. This is mainly because of their high pesticide use, as well as refrigerated trucking, mechanized harvesting, and styrofoam packaging. |
Waste generation of apricots | Apricots’ waste generation is extremely high. This is mainly because they use styrofoam packaging, which is very unsustainable during every stage of its life cycle. |
These are the overall summaries, but there is a lot more to the story. In the next few sections, we will dive deeper into each stage to illustrate to you all the important aspects of apricots’ ethics & sustainability.
How Ethical & Sustainable Are the Social and Economic Conditions for Apricots
Apricots’ social and economic conditions are very poor. This is mainly because of the reports of child labor in Turkey. Furthermore, in Chile, where the US imports most of its apricots from, farm workers are often exposed to poor working conditions and low wages, especially women.
Everything we consume was made or harvested by somebody. In past centuries, this was often someone who lived in your community and who you might have even known personally. But through the rise of globalized distribution systems, we have become increasingly alienated from the people who make our food. This leaves a lot of room for exploitation and abuse, both of which are rampant in the food industry. Here, we will look at how the apricot industry fares in relation to these ethical questions.
How ethical & sustainable are the social and economic conditions of growing apricots?
- Are farmers paid fair wages to grow apricots: The average fruit picker in the US earns around $29,000 per year. This is a somewhat decent wage, but it is still far below the average US salary.
- How safe are the working conditions to grow apricots: Many pickers on California’s fruit farms—including stone fruits—face very harsh working conditions. These include strain injuries from difficult positions and exposure to chemicals from apricots’ high pesticide usage.
- Are there reports of child or forced labor to grow apricots: There have been significant reports of child labor within Turkey’s apricot industry. Many of these children working in the Turkish farming industry have reportedly been killed in accidents. These unsafe and even fatal conditions are one of the most unethical aspects of the apricot industry. Child labor is also known to be rife in Chile.
- What is the wider economic impact on the communities that grow apricots: Many of California’s agricultural pickers are migrant workers. This means that they were able to come to the US on the condition that they work in certain farms. This can help with unemployment and labor shortages, but also means that workers are vulnerable to unique types of exploitation.
In short, the use of child labor, and child endangerment, in the apricot industry makes them an extremely unethical fruit.
How Ethical & Sustainable Are the Seasonality for Apricots
Apricots’ seasonality is between May and August, depending on the state. Because they need to be imported from Chile for the rest of the year, they are much more sustainable during this period.
Every fruit has a natural season in which they grow, usually lasting a couple of months, which can range depending on the region. However, international demand for every kind of fruit is year-round. This demand is often met by importing fruits from tropical places which can grow year-round, or by growing them in greenhouses. Both of these methods use more resources and are thus less sustainable than conventional farming. Here, we will look at how the apricot industry accommodates year-round demand.
How ethical & sustainable is it to grow apricots in-season vs out-of-season?
- When is the natural season for growing and harvesting apricots: Apricot season varies by state in the US, but in California they are available between mid-May and early July. In other states, such as Utah, the season can span to mid-August. This means that American apricots of some variety will be available from mid-May to mid-August, and are thus most sustainable during this time.
- How are apricots naturally grown in-season: Apricots grow on trees in orchards. In the US, most apricots are produced in California, and so they will likely be coming from there in-season. This means they need less transportation and are more sustainable in-season.
- How are apricots grown out-of-season: Out of season, most fresh apricots are imported from Chile. This means they need to travel further and are therefore less sustainable.
In short, the fact that out-of-season apricots need to be imported from Chile, whereas in-season apricots are produced domestically, makes them much more sustainable in-season.
How Ethical & Sustainable Are the Land Requirements for Apricots
Apricots’ land requirements are moderate. Though they don’t use widespread monoculture farming methods, they do use a lot of pesticides, which negatively impacts wildlife.
The growth stage has a major impact on fruits’ sustainability. The amount of land used, especially in relation to its expansion, the method with which they are grown, and their effect on surrounding land and wildlife are all important factors. In this section, we will look at the ways in which apricots’ land usage affects their sustainability.
How ethical & sustainable are the land requirements for growing apricots?
- What is the land usage of apricots: Apricots yield around 13–25 tons per hectare. This is a low to average yield among fruits and so apricots’ land usage is moderately unsustainable.
- Where and how are apricots grown: Most apricots are grown in the Middle East, particularly in Turkey, Iran, and Uzbekistan. Apricots grow on trees in orchards. Fruit trees have been found to sequester carbon fairly well. Carbon sequestration is the process wherein certain plants capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the ground. This helps to offset part of apricots’ carbon footprint and thus their sustainability.
- Are apricots grown in monocultures or polycultures: Apricots are often grown with intercropping, which is a polyculture farming style. This means that they avoid many of the negative qualities of monoculture farming, and so their farming style is very sustainable.
- How does the growing of apricots affect soil fertility and erosion: Apricot farms have sometimes been associated with soil erosion, mainly due to the fact that they are grown on slopes in Mediterranean climates. As a result, apricot farming is very unsustainable when it comes to soil.
- How does the apricot industry affect the loss of habitable land: Apricot agriculture takes up a significant amount of land in the Mediterranean alone. For example, apricot agriculture accounts for almost 20,000 hectares of Italian land, an area twice the size of Paris. Therefore, apricot farming cuts significantly into habitable land.
- How does the apricot industry affect wildlife and biodiversity: Apricots use a significant amount of pesticides. Pesticides can be very harmful to wildlife, and so apricots are very unsustainable at this stage.
In short, apricots’ use of polyculture farming, but significant pesticides means they are moderately unsustainable.
How Ethical & Sustainable Is the Water Footprint of Apricots
Apricots have a low water requirement of 25–30 inches of water per year. Because of where they are grown, they need a small amount of irrigation, which means their water footprint is fairly low at this stage.
Water usage is one of the most important factors in a fruit’s sustainability. Practices like irrigation use significant resources and can cause pollution, and as such, factors like the amount of water used, where it is sourced, as well as the way they affect the water sources around them, are all important. Here, we will look at these different angles of apricots’ water footprint.
How ethical & sustainable is the water footprint of growing apricots?
- What is the overall water usage of apricots: Apricot trees need around 25–30 inches of water per year. This is a very low water requirement compared to other fruits. For example, pears need around 50 inches per year, and watermelons up to 100. Therefore, apricots’ overall water footprint is very low.
- What is the green water footprint of apricots: The green water footprint is the amount of water from precipitation stored in the soil and used by plants for growth. Most apricots in the world are grown in Turkey, which gets around 22 inches of rain per year, depending on the region. Many apricots consumed by Americans come from California, which also gets around 22 inches of rain per year. Both of these amounts don’t quite cover apricots’ water requirements. This means that all the rainfall in the region will need to go toward apricot farming. Therefore, no matter where your apricots are grown, their green water footprint is high.
- What is the blue water footprint of apricots: The blue water footprint is the amount of water sourced from surface (such as rivers or lakes) or groundwater resources. Because neither Turkey nor California’s rainfall is quite enough to cover apricots’ water requirements, they will need a small amount of irrigation. This means that their blue water footprint is moderate.
- What is the gray water footprint of apricots: The gray water footprint is the amount of freshwater required to clean up water pollution to meet certain quality standards. Essentially, it’s the amount of water needed to make polluted water clean enough to be safe and healthy for humans and the environment. Apricots’ pesticide use is very high. This means a large amount of water will be needed to clean up their residue and so their gray water footprint is very high.
- How does the apricot industry affect freshwater and ocean pollution: Pesticides have been identified as a major polluter of oceans and other water sources. Therefore, the fact that apricots use a significant amount of pesticides heightens their water pollution. Irrigation is also very unsustainable, but because apricots only use a low amount of irrigation, this is not as severe an impact.
In short, apricot farms’ high use of pesticides and moderate use of irrigation means that their water usage is moderately unsustainable.
How Ethical & Sustainable Is the Agrochemical Usage for Apricots
Apricots’ agrochemical usage is moderate. They use a lot of pesticides, but the types of pesticides they use are minimally harmful.
Pesticides and fertilizers are agrochemicals that are very unsustainable and damaging to ecosystems. This is because they require resources to create and can easily run off into groundwater and soil systems. Here, we will look at how sustainable apricots’ pesticide and fertilizer rates really are.
How ethical & sustainable is the agrochemical usage of growing apricots?
- What is the pesticide usage of apricots: Apricots use a high amount of pesticides. In a 2019 study, 35% of apricots were found to contain hazardous pesticides. Pesticides can cause many kinds of environmental damage, including poisoning surrounding wildlife, and leakages getting into soil and groundwater. As a result, apricots are very unsustainable at this stage.
- What is the fertilizer usage of apricots: Apricots are generally fertilized with potassium. Fortunately, potassium fertilizers have been found to be fairly benign in terms of their environmental impact. Therefore, apricots’ fertilizer usage is fairly sustainable.
- Are there any known issues connected to the agrochemical usage for apricots: Many of the pesticides found on apricots are not only unsustainable, but also have been linked to human diseases such as cancer, birth defects, and heart problems. Therefore, the agrochemical usage of apricots can have as harmful an impact on humans as it has on the environment.
In short, apricots’ high pesticide usage is very harmful to the environment, but because they use the less-harmful potassium fertilizer, they are only moderately unsustainable at this stage.
How Ethical & Sustainable Is the Carbon Footprint of Apricots
Apricots have a low carbon footprint of 0.16kg (0.36lb) of CO2e per pound of apricots. This is mainly because of their high pesticide use, as well as refrigerated trucking, mechanized harvesting, and styrofoam packaging.
Carbon footprint is one aspect of the overall sustainability of a fruit. It essentially measures how much carbon or other greenhouse gasses the production of fruits emits into the atmosphere. Emissions from product manufacturing, irrigation, transportation fuel, and landfills all add up to create the overall carbon footprint of a fruit. Let’s see how the carbon footprint of apricots contributes to their overall sustainability.
How ethical & sustainable is the carbon footprint of apricots?
- What is the overall carbon footprint of apricots: The overall carbon footprint of apricots is low at 0.16kg (0.36lb) of CO2e per pound of apricots. That means that for every pound of apricots produced, 0.16kg of carbon is released into the atmosphere. That’s the equivalent of driving a car for just under half a mile. Apricots have a low carbon footprint compared to other fruits.
- What are the main contributors to the carbon footprint of apricots: The main factors that contribute to apricots’ carbon footprint are pesticide use, styrofoam packaging, and refrigerated transportation.
- Which life-cycle stage of apricots has the highest carbon footprint: The stage that contributes the most to apricots’ carbon footprint is harvesting, processing, and packaging. The energy required to power the harvesting machines and their heavy use of packaging are the main reasons for this stage being so high.
In short, though apricots may have a smaller carbon footprint compared to other fruits, they still emit a significant amount of carbon due to their packaging and transport methods.
How Ethical & Sustainable Is the Waste Generation of Apricots
Apricots’ waste generation is extremely high. This is mainly because they use styrofoam packaging, which is very unsustainable during every stage of its life cycle.
When fruit waste, either in the form of packaging or organic materials, is disposed of, it can cause a lot of problems. Whether it’s damaging wildlife, getting into oceans, emitting methane, or dissolving into microplastics that contaminate groundwater, all these materials have their part to play. The sheer amount of waste we produce is reaching a crisis point and won’t be able to continue much longer. In this section, we will look at how sustainable apricots’ waste generation is.
How ethical & sustainable is the waste generation of apricots?
- What is the packaging of apricots: Apricots are usually packaged using either cardboard or styrofoam. Though cardboard is one of the more environmentally-friendly types of packaging, it still contributes to deforestation. Styrofoam, on the other hand, is very unsustainable during its production stage.
- How is the packaging of apricots disposed of: Cardboard has a very high recycling rate at 89%. Styrofoam, however, has a less than 1% recycling rate, which means that a huge portion of apricot packaging is ending up in landfills. Landfills cause significant environmental damage, including land clearance and chemical pollution. Furthermore, styrofoam can take up to 500 years to decompose. Because of this, apricots’ packaging is very unsustainable.
- How are apricots disposed of: Apricots have pits that cannot be eaten. They can theoretically be composted, but in practice, only 4% of food waste is actually composted. Furthermore, food waste is particularly unsustainable as it releases a greenhouse gas called methane when it is put in landfills.
In short, the extremely low recycling rates of styrofoam and low composting rates of food waste mean that apricots are very unsustainable at this stage.
What Have Been Historical Ethics & Sustainability Issues Connected to the Apricot Industry
The apricot industry has historically been involved in both sustainable efforts, such as land revitalization, and unsustainable or unethical practices, such as worker discrimination and pesticide pollution.
All fruits have had a complex road toward global distribution. They originate in one part of the world and often travel far to end up in your local supermarket. From farm to table, some of our favorite fruits have racked up some serious damage along the way. Whether it’s exploiting labor, deforestation to meet demand, water pollution, or disruption of wildlife, most fruits have left a path of destruction. Let’s see how apricots have fared throughout history.
What have been the key ethical & sustainable issues of the apricot industry?
- Has labor been exploited because of apricot production: In 2022, there were significant reports in Turkey of discrimination against Syrian migrant workers. These reports show that there has been mistreatment of workers in the apricot industry.
- How much land has been lost because of apricot production: Apricots have actually historically been used to greenify environments. In China, for example, apricot trees were used in a project to prevent land degradation. Therefore, apricots have at times had a positive impact on the environment.
- Which wildlife species have been negatively impacted or displaced because of apricot production: The pesticides used by apricot farmers have caused a lot of problems for wildlife over the years. They stop many natural processes of the ecosystem and so a significant amount of wildlife loss can be attributed to apricots’ pesticide usage. In this category, apricots have had a historically negative environmental impact.
- Have water sources and soil been contaminated because of apricot production: Pesticides have caused a lot of damage to water sources over the years. As of 2021, around 10% of surface water and 2% of groundwater contained a significant amount of pesticides. The damage this has caused to marine life and the environment, in general, has been very high.
In short, through their significant use of pesticides and reports of worker discrimination, the apricot industry has likely caused a significant amount of damage over the years.
How Can You Reduce Your Environmental Impact and Offset Your Personal Carbon Footprint
There are a few things you can do to make your apricot consumption more ethical and sustainable, while still enjoying them. You can also consider offsetting your personal and apricot-related carbon emissions, which work to remove carbon emissions elsewhere that are then attributed to you. Here, we will walk you through how to accomplish both of these things.
How Can You Shop for Apricots More Ethically & Sustainably
In this section, we give you a short list of ways you can consume apricots in a more sustainable way. This list is designed to target the most unsustainable parts of apricots’ life-cycle:
- Buy in-season apricots: Outside of apricot season, these fruits are typically imported, which make them less sustainable. Therefore, if you want to make your apricot consumption more sustainable, you should stick to the apricot season, between May and August, where your purchase will more likely have been domestically produced.
- Choose low packaging apricots: Packaging, especially that made of styrofoam, is one of the most unsustainable aspects of apricots. If you want to reduce the damage caused by your apricot consumption, you should choose apricots that don’t come with packaging. This will help you to cut down on the damage that styrofoam causes to the environment.
- Buy organic apricots: Pesticides are another majorly unsustainable aspect of apricot farming. Organic farms generally avoid high amounts of chemical pesticides and nitrogen fertilizers and so they are good to support if you want to reduce your pesticide and fertilizer impact. Plus, the fewer chemicals that are used, the safer the conditions are for farm workers, meaning that buying organic apricots is both more ethical and more sustainable.
Following some of these methods can really help you to make your apricot-eating more sustainable. None of these will completely eradicate the negative impacts, since there are always effects that may be outside of your control. But some reduction is always better than nothing!
Which Organizations Can You Support to Help Promote Ethics & Sustainability
While apricot production engages in some very unsustainable practices, there are also some organizations that help you change the parts of these processes that would otherwise be outside of your control. These organizations are working hard to prevent and reverse damage to the environment caused by industries like apricot agriculture, towards a more sustainable future.
In the table below are some of the best charities that work in the areas where apricot production are very unsustainable—and beyond:
Though it is helpful to boost the sustainability of your personal apricot consumption, supporting these organizations takes your positive impact a step further. You will be reaching far beyond your own consumption impacts and helping to build a better world for everyone!
How Can You Offset Your Personal Carbon Footprint
The carbon footprint is a key part of how sustainable we live. And it is one of the ways we measure the effects of our human-induced global climate change. Yes, even from eating apricots!
“Carbon footprint: the amount of greenhouse gasses and specifically carbon dioxide emitted by something (such as a person’s activities or a product’s manufacture and transport) during a given period”
Merriam Webster
Basically, it is the amount of carbon emitted by you as an individual or an organization providing you with goods and services – including apricots:
- This includes GHG emissions from producing the products that we use and foods that we eat (e.g., power plants, factories or farms, and landfills)
- GHG emissions from fuel that we burn directly or indirectly (e.g., logistics and transportation, cooling or heating facilities),
- as well as the GHG emissions attributed to how we consume these products and foods.
Carbon offsets are reductions in carbon emissions that are used to compensate for carbon emissions occurring elsewhere – for example for the carbon emissions that are associated with apricots. They are measured in tons of CO2 equivalents and are bought and sold through international brokers, online retailers, and trading platforms on what is known as the global carbon offset market.
“Carbon Offset: a way for a company or person to reduce the level of carbon dioxide for which they are responsible by paying money to a company that works to reduce the total amount produced in the world, for example by planting trees”
Oxford Dictionary
In terms of apricots – and indeed all food types – there will always be a carbon footprint, because of the resources it takes to get your food from farms to the place where you’ll eventually eat them. And while there are ways to reduce your carbon footprint when shopping for apricots, carbon offsets would be a way to reduce your CO2e emissions all the way down to net zero (or even to become climate positive).
However, when you purchase carbon offsets, it’s important that they actually make a difference in offsetting (aka reducing) total carbon emissions. To achieve that, the following are key criteria:
- Carbon offset projects have to be effective (different projects have different effectiveness rates)
- Carbon offset projects have to be additional
- Carbon offset projects have to be permanent
- The claims from carbon offset projects have to be verifiable
To find the best carbon offsets for you personally, check out our full guide on the best carbon offsets for individuals, where you’ll also learn more about how these carbon offset projects work, what their respective offsetting costs are, and what your best way would be to offset your own carbon emissions.
Final Thoughts
Apricots are a delicious fruit. However, there are still many unethical and unsustainable components to their life cycle. Their irrigation requirements, significant use of pesticides, reports of child labor in Turkey, and styrofoam packaging can all cause serious damage to people and the environment. Therefore, you should still make sure to buy organic and in-season apricots as much as possible and support eco-friendly organizations that tackle the larger issues. That way, you can help to make the impact of apricots more positive at all levels.
Stay impactful,
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- ENV: Combating Desertification
- RSPB: Pesticides and Wildlife-Friendly Farming
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