Letter to the
Editor
A vision for the future avocado industry
The California avocado industry is at a point of
indecision and stress. Decreasing
productivity coupled with increasing water and labor costs, and the threat from
imported, pest infested Mexican avocados, make the future for most of us rather
bleak. To have a viable industry which
is competitive, profitable and survivable, a vision for the future needs to be
formulated. Through growers’ meetings
where all issues could be discussed, without reservation, politics, or
inhibition we can thus synthesize a consensus of opinions and then implement a
plan of action.
First and foremost, we must identify our product, clearly and unequivocally. Each avocado
leaving our packing line should be so marked that the consumer will know that
it was grown in California, USA. If we
can still identify our product as pesticides free, this will further
distinguish our avocados. We cannot
compete on an equal basis with our foreign adversaries, but we can outmarket
them, and let’s begin with our greatest asset, California-grown Avocados.
We must grow what the market demands, not what we think it needs, and focus on growing
avocados efficiently and economically.
People have many tastes which are often different than ours, let us
accommodate their needs and profit from them.
We tell our customers, eat Hass or else; this is tunnel vision
detrimental to growers’ interest, let alone the risks of becoming a single
variety industry. Being ready to
accommodate niches, with specialized varieties, will bring better opportunities
for profits.
We can influence our destiny by revisiting the fruit
quality issue. If we sell bad looking
and poor quality fruit, we will lose customers. There exists complete disregard to what is best for the industry
by those who want to profit by holding their fruit to the point of
rancidity. Others, during very hot
weather, rush to harvest knowing that some of the fruit have been damaged by
the heat. Windfalls, cold damaged fruit
and immature avocados are examples of fruit with potential quality
problems. Most of our wholesale
customers know what acceptable, good quality is, and are increasingly more
cognizant when and how to look for problems.
We cannot spend millions to build our name as producers of quality
avocados and then send garbage to the market.
This practice is unacceptable and
must stop. One item is not
disputable, the quality of our fruit
on the shelf is often deplorable and could be improved by correct postharvest
handling.
How do we go about improving quality? The industry
must adopt a well defined protocol for postharvest study, by variety, to pinpoint where the failures occur and how to
correct them. Similar protocols are
readily available from other countries
and Dr. Mary Lu Arpaia, who works at UC Kearney Agricultural Center, one of the
world’s best postharvest research facilities, is fully capable of carrying out
this research.
Postharvest begins in timely applications of the
right fertilizers and water in ratios that will not cause problems after
harvest. Fruit should be sampled
immediately after it is picked, under varying air temperatures and relative
humidity, to identify problems associated with adverse environmental conditions. Picking bins need to be analyzed in terms of
their size and the materials from which they are constructed, to see if there
is room for improvement. The method of
placing fruit in the bin and the way it is transported to the pick-up site need
to be studied. We have to revisit the
work done on covering the fruit in the
bins, particularly when using fresh cut branches, which may be infested by
mites or thrips. We should consider
investing in the development of a cool cover to protect the avocados from the
heat and the sun.
Transportation from the field to the packinghouse is
critical. Avocados are trucked from
nearby and distant orchards and are often transported on bumpy country
roads. Sampling the avocados before
leaving the grove and when they arrive at the packinghouse can give us an indication
if fruit rubbing against the walls of the bin are being damaged.
The environment of the packinghouse must be
monitored and analyzed at each stage of the process. Pre-cooling, followed by warming of the avocados as they are
being packed, and cooling them a second time, may create postharvest
problems. Coolers should be monitored
for excess ethylene and a variety of pathogens. Storage temperatures and
expected shelf-life need to be examined, particularly for the new
varieties being recommended.
The trucking from the packinghouse to the
chain-store, or to other destinations,
needs to be looked at. Is distance a
factor? Do mixer trucks, taking on a variety of other produce, have certain
conditions harmful to the avocado? CAC
representatives, working at the receiving end, could inspect the fruit on
arrival and insure correct handling.
Yet, even on the store level, rigorous postharvest studies are
needed. Postharvest tests are not in
the domain of the packers. The best we
can expect from them is to be innovative and improve their practices and
performance.
To have a lasting California industry we must keep
the producer profitable. We cannot do
this while we are divided. Packers are
possessive of the farmers with whom they do business. Under certain situations, their practices adversely affect these
same growers and the industry. A packer
will keep receiving unneeded fruit just so his grower does not go to another
handler. Buildup of inventories in
anyone’s cooler is a formula for reduced prices for the industry as a
whole. The handler with the largest
unsold inventory is the limiting factor for stability in the market. It is not reasonable to expect growers to
abandon their packer of choice every time inventories are too high. It is more logical for an industry entity to
step in and help smooth inventories.
This industry is desperately
in need of a clearing house, where handlers can notify their colleagues of the
overload of, or need for, a certain size or variety. Calavo Foods used to absorb almost 10% of the total industry’s
yearly production. It was efficient in
leveling Calavo’s inventories by purchasing problem sizes and less desirable
varieties, and thus it brought stability to the rest of the industry. Unfortunately we don’t have this entity
buying California avocados any longer, but a clearing house could bring about
similar results. The inventories will
be redistributed before the fax to the buyers goes out advertising price
reduction at growers’ expense.
To be competitive with imports from countries where
farming costs are negligible when compared to our costs, will require the
overhaul of the way we farm and of the varieties we cultivate. The typical grower, one with commercial
water, debt service and hired labor and with an average sustained production of
Hass below 6,000 pounds per acre, and with
gross return per pound of 66 cents, cannot call his farming enterprise
profitable. On the other hand, a
cultivar that produces an average of 20,000 pounds per acre per year, can gross
34 cents per pound and still provide the same farmer with over $2,000 per acre
of net profits.
Our trees are aging and they are in need of
rejuvenation. In most groves, canopies
are overgrown and as a result productivity is alarmingly decreasing. Aggressively grafting to new and well tested
varieties, and intelligent pruning of ‘ Hass’ in northern counties will help
correct the overcrowding and aging problems.
Growers who intend to survive will more than likely need to replace their trees with high density
planting of existing or upcoming varieties. All new plantings should be planted on root rot resistant, salt
tolerant and highly compatible rootstocks.
The industry must find ways to radically reduce the cost of clonal
trees, so high density planting could become feasible. Well researched canopy management techniques
will be extremely critical for high density planting and high production.
To be able to achieve high sustained volumes, we
must learn to utilize the information generated by research. We have to understand all cultural aspects
of growing avocados through well defined production research. Production research is an important vehicle
that is indispensable and needs to be integrated with the long term goals and
plans of the California Avocado industry of the future, and in parallel to the
plans for the future of CAC. Priority
lists are generated and surveys are
mailed to a select group of growers.
Most comments reflect immediate individual concerns rather than the
needs of the industry. Without a phenological model for California, for example, we will continue to irrigate and
fertilize at levels that are not optimum and often even absurd and detrimental
to productivity. A stand-alone breeding
program without simultaneous postharvest studies, tree efficiency and
requirements and compatibility studies with the range of available clonal
rootstocks, is an error we cannot continue to repeat. With soaring picking costs, and insurance constraints on the
harvesting of tall trees, the industry should strive to find dwarfing
rootstocks and other techniques, such as interstock, to produce dwarfing
trees. Additionally, dwarfing technique would be highly desirable for super high density planting, (12 x 12
ft. or less). We are at a point, that
successful completion of work done by researchers such as Dr. Litz, who we are
currently funding, will give us tools to manipulate desirable qualities at the
somatic level. All of the above are
examples of indispensable research which must continue.
All valuable information must be effectively
disseminated to growers. Although good
information is available, too few of us appear to be familiar with it and
understand the subject matter. With
computer technology so readily accessible, there is no reason why we cannot
communicate and disseminate the information well. UC Cooperative Extension advisors are spread so thinly that they
cannot offer advice to all who need it.
The industry needs to hire professionals whose job description would
include the time to attend to the needs of avocado growers, while drawing on
the wealth of information the extension service can provide. In Israel, South Africa and Japan, growers,
university researchers, extension specialists, farm advisors and the field
representatives of the various packinghouses, meet together periodically to
discuss and plan and inform. This is
not communism but rather smart planning by a united industry for the benefit of
its members.
Do we have a long term future as an avocado industry
in California? I believe that a tighter cluster of sophisticated farmers who
have been planning in advance for upcoming changes will emerge. These survivors are the growers who foresaw
increasing water costs and developed alternative water sources. Individuals who could see that they were
outside the narrow belt where Hass produces well and experimented and planted
different varieties and alternative crops more suited to their climate. The farmers who were continuously searching
for better and more innovative methods of farming and were willing to risk
parting from tradition. There is no
question in my mind that attrition will take place and many will fall along the
way for failing to see and to change.
When this transformation is completed, the surviving industry will step
into the new century united in its common goals, strong and profitable.
Reuben Hofshi
Del Rey Avocado Company
1260 S. Main Street
Fallbrook, CA
92028
PLEASE CONTACT
US
Subtropical
Fruit News
welcomes opinions from its readers.
These may be comments on the articles included in the newsletter or
other matters of interest to its readers.
Letters should be as brief as possible.
We will periodically publish these in the newsletter. Send letters to: Mary Lu Arpaia, UC Kearney
Agricultural center, 9240 S. Riverbend Ave., Parlier, CA 93648 or e-mail to arpaia@uckac.edu.