11 new members to join the Hass Avocado Board.

The appointment of 11 members to the Hass Avocado Board was announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on November 19. 

Among them are 3 producer members: Susan V. Pinkerton, Ben Van Der Kar and CJ Shade; 3 producer alternates: William Carleton, Jeff Dickinson and Kimberlin Brown Pelzer; 2 importer members: Jorge A. Hernandez and Sergio Chavez; and 2 importer alternates: Andrew Bruno and Peter Shore to fill 3-year terms starting from November 1, 2020, and expiring on October 31, 2023, and Keith Slattery as a producer alternate to complete the term which expires on October 31, 2021.

The Hass Avocado Board has 12 members and each of them has an alternate. There are 7 producer members, 2 importer members and 3 producer or importer members who serve in swing seats. 

The purpose of the Hass Avocado R&P Program is to promote and increase the consumption of Hass avocados in the U.S. This program concerns fresh domestic and imported Hass avocados.  

The Hass Avocado Board’s objective is to promote avocados and make them America’s most popular fruit. Thanks to their work, this year’s volume of sales of fresh Hass avocados in the U.S. reached 2.576 billion pounds (1.116 billion kg) or 7.8 pounds per capita (3.5 kg). 

Despite this volume being almost close to volumes sold in 2018, consumption levels in dollars raised by more than 400 million dollars in total compared to the prior year which is 1.32 dollars more per capita for a total of 20.17 dollars per capita in 2019. Most industry experts predict supply to reach 3 billion pounds (1.4 billion kg) in the near future.

source: ams usda, hassavocadoboard

photo: worldatlas