California Avocado Producers Expect Large Harvest

California Avocado Producers Expect Large Harvest

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
With California Ag Today, I’m Tim Hammerich.

Good news for California avocado growers. Not only is their product delicious, but it looks like this crop year is shaping up to be a big one.

This according to California Avocado Commission Vice President of Industry Relations Ken Melban.

Melban…”Production is looking very good. We've had some good rains in our production areas over the winter. Obviously we're hopeful for more and the fruit has set very well. We're seeing sizing occur. We're seeing some harvesting begin now. Our crop volume, our projection for this coming season is just under 370 million pounds, which when you compare that with last year, it's nearly a 70% increase over last year. So we're very excited about what the season's going to bring and the quality of fruit that we're seeing on the trees.”

Also positive is California avocados being included in the recent China trade deal. Demand growth has been strong for the healthy fruit, and according to Melban the planted acreage has been steady.

Melban…”California avocado acreage has remained steady. We are actually seeing some increase in some areas. It takes a few years once you plant a tree, a minimum of three years, closer to five to get some production going on those trees. So these are big time investments these growers make and they deal with a lot of environmental conditions. But I got to tell you, the California grower is an amazing, resilient group of people, and they always find a way to deliver a premium product every year.”

So enjoy a big bowl of guacamole at your Super Bowl party. There’ll be plenty more where that came from.

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