Reuben Hofshi

Reuben Hofshi

Have you hugged your avocado tree lately?

Reuben has been an active participant in the California avocado industry for the last 25 years as a grower, packer and contributing member of many industry and society committees. He has been a member of California Avocado Society (CAS) for many years and has also actively participated for many years with the CAS Variety and Nursery committee. He has been a member of the California Avocado Commission (CAC) Production Research Committee since the late 1980’s; chairing this committee since 1999. In all these activities he has shown extraordinary dedication, innovativeness, generosity, leadership and commitment to the sharing of information and open exchange of ideas. As many people know, he loves a good argument and discourse of conflicting viewpoints. His probing mind incessantly seeks the truth and he is not hesitant to change course when convinced that better data is available that supports an opposing viewpoint. Reuben is a walking encyclopedia of avocado knowledge; having a voracious appetite for new information. This knowledge of worldwide avocado literature has served the California avocado industry in many ways. He is eager to share this knowledge with anyone who is interested and has expended a great amount of effort over the years sharing this knowledge.

This interest in anything “avocado” has prompted him to be an active “extender” of avocado information. He has not been shy in using any available avenue for getting the “word out” to avocado growers, packers and others through meeting/seminar participation, writing and committee membership. Since 1995 he has written or co-authored 26 articles published in the CAS yearbook, AvoResearch, Subtropical Fruit News, California Grower and other outlets. The topics covered in these articles have been varied but have the same underlying theme: be critical of what you are doing, don’t tolerate the status quo and be prepared to change in order to survive in the future global avocado economy. As a reader of this website, you know that he established a website in June 2002 which includes compilations of avocado research and knowledge from around the world; all with the goal to build an information sharing base on avocado knowledge.

He has in recent years been a key player in bringing international researchers to California. Most notable was his pivotal role in the conception and organization of Brainstorming ’99 included on this website. This meeting brought 26 international researchers to California following the 1999 World Avocado Congress in Mexico. Held at UC, Riverside, this meeting had an attendance of over 200 California growers and resulted in his co-editing the meeting’s Proceedings. Another international meeting that he was involved with through the planning process and the follow-up field meetings was the 1998 Persea Germplasm Meeting held at UC, Riverside that was co-sponsored by CAS and CAC. He has also voluntarily hosted, invited or played an important role in funding of many international visitors to the California avocado industry in recent years.

Reuben is one of the most innovative people today in the California avocado industry through his keen observational skills, questioning mind and ability to think “out of the box”. He not only thinks of new ideas, but also actively tries to implement these in the field. He has personally financed some of these projects just to get them “off the ground” and to see if there is validity to these ideas. Contributions in recent years include:

1) Reuben has been a vocal advocate for the use of pollinizer varieties and honey bees to increase productivity. His observation that the Carniolan race of honey bee may be a more effective pollinator of avocado was picked up by Drs. Sharoni Shafir and Arnon Dag in Israel. These researchers have 2+ years of data strongly supporting this hypothesis. The pursuit of this line of research has brought increased awareness within California of the issues surrounding the use of pollinizers, pollinators and avocado flowering controversies. Reuben has been an active participant in this discourse. No doubt, the end result will be an overall improvement in avocado productivity and a better understanding on what role fruit set plays in the overall productivity picture. These efforts have recently culminated with the establishment of a BARD funded project to Drs. Shafir, Dag, Davenport and Arpaia to further examine these issues. As Dr. Dag has indicated, Reuben is clearly the “father of the idea”.

2) His adaptation of the Andre Ernst clonal propagation method needs to be acknowledged. Reuben has pioneered this method as a commercial propagation alternative for the California avocado nursery industry. His single minded approach to working through the challenges in making this system work has now resulted in the implementation of this method by the ACW Farm and experimentation and modification of this approach at several additional commercial nurseries. In all of this, the knowledge gained in the learning process has been openly shared and discussed freely especially where he feels the shortcomings of the process are and where improvements need to be made. This modification of the “Brokaw” technique has the potential for more uniform clonal trees to plant in the field by the complete elimination of the “nurse” seed.

3) Another area where Reuben has been a stimulating force is in promoting renewed discussion and soul searching amongst growers and researchers is in the area of canopy management, planting densities and light management. He has written a number of articles on this subject, hosted numerous growers and researchers at ACW Farm and participated at innumerable meetings to discuss the need for canopy management. He has engaged researchers worldwide in the debate on canopy density and management including a “giant” of the avocado world, Tony Whiley. His contributions in this area worldwide are acknowledged in the recently published Avocado book edited by A. W. Whiley, N. Wolstenholme and B. Schaeffer by CAB International.

4) The most recent innovation that Reuben has been involved with is the modification of the procedures used in dry weight determination and maturity testing. He conceived, designed and was the moving force behind the new protocol in use by the CDFA Avocado Inspection Service. The “Hofshi” plugging machine will revolutionize dry weight determination through the implementation of a system that will reduce sampling times prior to the microwave step by approximately 80% and will result in increased worker safety. This new methodology has already attracted the attention of the Chilean and New Zealand avocado industries. Reuben was recently recognized for this contribution by CAC when they presented him with a plaque of appreciation for these efforts.

Reuben Hofshi has unselfishly devoted his time, resources and keen mind to the betterment of the California and worldwide avocado industry for over 20 years. His dedication to excellence and quest for new knowledge has benefited the California and world avocado community immeasurably.

Publications by R. Hofshi since 1995

Hofshi, R. 1995. A conversation with Tony Whiley. CA Avocado Soc. Yrbk. 79:185-196.

Hofshi, R. 1995. Grower opinion. Avocado productivity: an overview. Subtropical Fruit News. 3(1):5-8.

Hofshi, R. 1995. Grower opinion. Harnessing the honeybee to improve pollination of the avocado flower: a summary of Dr. Gad Ish-Am’s Seminars. Subtropical Fruit News. 3(3): 4-8.

Hofshi, R. 1996. Accepted and perceived limiting factors to avocado production in Israel…solutions and setbacks. CA Avocado Soc. Yrbk. 80:27-39.

Hofshi, R. 1996. Experiments with cloning avocado rootstocks. CA Avocado Soc. Yrbk. 80:103-108.

Hofshi, R. 1996. We can shape our future – “A futuristic avocado grower”. CA Avocado Soc. Yrbk. 80:159-166.

Hofshi, R. 1996. Clone your own avocado at home. Subtropical Fruit News. 4(2):4-6.

Hofshi, R. 1997. Letter to the editor. A vision for the future avocado industry. Subtropical Fruit News. 5(1):12-13.

Schroeder, C. A. and R. Hofshi. 1998. Some aspects of pollination and fertilization in subtropical fruit species. Subtropical Fruit News. 6(1):2-5.

Arpaia, M. L. and R. Hofshi. 1998. Preliminary report on the feasibility of ‘snap’ harvesting ‘Hass’ avocado. Subtropical Fruit News. 6(2):7 – 9.

Hofshi, R. 1998. Dreaming in Reality. CA Avocado Soc. Yrbk. 82:137-159.

Arpaia, M. L. and R. Hofshi. 1999. An Argument for a Bee Cooperative. CA Grower. 23(2): 24-26.

Arpaia, M. L. and R. Hofshi. 1999. Co-Editors. Brainstorming ’99. University of California, Riverside. 163 pages.

Hofshi, R. 1999. Some economic reasons to consider canopy management. In: Arpaia, M. L. and R. Hofshi eds. Brainstorming ’99. University of California, Riverside. Pages 45-48.

Hofshi, R. 1999. Pollination, pollinators and pollinizers. In: Arpaia, M. L. and R. Hofshi eds. Brainstorming ’99. University of California, Riverside. Pages 107-108.

Hofshi, R. 1999. Opportunities for interchange – Summaries of selected international avocado research. Subtropical Fruit News. 7(1):1.

Hofshi, R. 1999. High-density avocado planting – an argument for replanting trees. Subtropical Fruit News. 7(1):9-13.

Hofshi, R. 1999. Should avocado growers consider a “nursery cooperative”? Subtropical Fruit News. 7(1):13-15.

Liu, X., R. Hofshi and M. L. Arpaia. 1999. ‘Hass’ avocado leaf growth, abscission, carbon production and fruit set. In: Arpaia, M. L. and R. Hofshi eds. Brainstorming ’99. University of California, Riverside. Pages 52-55.

Boreham, D., R. Hofshi and M. L. Arpaia. 2000. The ‘Lamb Hass’ maturity project: Observations to date. Calif. Avocado Grower, Summer 2000 (9): 10-11.

Hofshi, R. 2001. What should you do in the face of international competition? AvoResearch. 1(2):3, 8.

Arpaia, M. L., A. E. Fetscher and R. Hofshi. 2001. Avocado Flowering Basics. AvoResearch 1(2):4-5.

Hofshi, R., D. Boreham and M. L. Arpaia. 2001. ‘Lamb Hass’ maturity and fruit quality study. Calif. Avocado Research Symposium, Oct. 20, 2001. p. 131-134.

Hofshi, R. 2001. Hass cultivation in Mexico. AvoResearch. 1(3): 8-10.

Hofshi, R. 2002. The Chilean Avocado Industry: an overview. AvoResearch 2(1):1-12.

Liu, X., M. V. Mickelbart, P. W. Robinson, R. Hofshi and M. L. Arpaia. 2002. Photosynthetic characteristics of avocado leaves. In: R. Drew (ed.) Proceedings of the International Symposium on Tropical and Subtropical Fruits. Acta Hort. 575:865-874.

Arpaia, M. L., D. Boreham and R. Hofshi. 2002. Development of a new method for measuring minimum maturity of avocados. CA Avocado Soc. Yrbk. (In press).

Dag, A., A. E. Fetscher, O. Afik, Y. Yeselson, A. Schaffer, Y. Kamer, N. M. Waser, M. A.Madore, M. L. Arpaia, R. Hofshi and Sharoni Shafir. 2002. Honey bee (Apis mellifera) strains differ in avocado (Persea americana) nectar foraging preferences. Apidologie (In Press).