Avocado crop may be the lightest in 20 years

Under the lush canopy of avocado trees growing in Southern California, farmers are studying the fruit-bearing branches and preparing for disappointment. The valuable fruit they count on for income is very sparse.

 

Observers say it will be the smallest crop in 20 years and possibly one of the smallest in state history.

 

The reasons for the small crop are many. Experts say a hard freeze in January 2007, wildfires later that year, a 30 percent water cutback, inclement weather at bloom, poor pollination, pest infestations and quarantines, and the trees' tendency to bear alternately heavy and light crops have now taken their toll.

 

Walking one of the many avocado groves he manages, Burnet Wohlford of Heritage Ranch Management in Escondido said the yield on the 2009 avocado crop will definitely be lighter. In his own groves and those he manages for others, he too cites a variety of reasons for the crop's paltry prospects.

 

California avocados are grown year-round and can have more than one crop on the trees at one time. A single California tree can produce up to 200 pounds of fresh avocados each year, about 500 pieces of fruit, although most average around 60 pounds or 150 pieces of fruit.

 

Given what growers are up against with the 2009 crop, Wohlford throws up his hands and just shakes his head when asked what he thinks the average will be in 2009. He says he does know the crop will be disappointingly small. The combination of forces coming together to reduce yields for the 2009 avocado crop is highly unusual, experts say.

 

In 2007 the crop was valued at about US$251 million. At this point no one is venturing a guess about the value of the 2009 crop.

 

The California Avocado Commission said there has been a decline in avocado groves in the top avocado-producing region, San Diego County, in the past year.

 

In addition to the 30 percent cutback in irrigation water, which led farmers to cut some trees back to their stumps or pull them out altogether, there also are avocado acres damaged or destroyed by wildfire in 2007.