Apart from a few ranches in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, avocado harvest in the state of California has finished. Most farms finished about three weeks ago, in the second half of August. "It was a good season," says Hayden McIntyre, President of Sierra Pacific Farms as well as farm manager for a number of avocado growers in the state. "A good year with a good market and good sales," he continued. California's avocado production volume is expected to come in close to 350 million pounds this season, which is up significantly from the initial estimates for the season. However, yields vary greatly by growing region.
Avocados are alternate bearing, and each district is on or off during different years. This year, Ventura County had an on-year and saw yields above 12,000 lbs. per acre with some of the heaviest groves yielding 30,000 lbs. per acre. San Luis Obispo and the upper Santa Barbara counties averaged 7,500 – 8,500 lbs./acre while San Diego and Riverside counties in the south witnessed average yields of 5,200 to 6,000 lbs./acre.
2025 outlook
McIntyre knows the situation will be different next year. Ventura's yields are expected to be slightly lower while yields in the other counties are predicted to be up. "The way things are looking now, trees in the northern counties will be loaded next season and California as a whole could be above 400 million lbs. range," he shared.
In addition to the alternate bearing cycle, production volumes are also impacted by a shift in planted acreage. In San Diego county, significant avocado acreage has been taken out due to high costs of water. In Ventura, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara counties on the other hand, acreage has shown an increase in recent years. This is the result of farmers taking out lemon trees and putting avocados in instead. "In the past few years, the lemon market has been down while avocados have continued to be profitable."
While the initial estimates for the 2025 season are looking very promising, next year's crop volume will largely depend on the amount of rainfall the state of California will receive this winter as well as intensity of the Santa Ana winds in October and November. If strong, they have the ability to take significant numbers of fruit off the trees.
Although harvest of California avocados has concluded, they can still be found in stores until the beginning of October. "Buy California Avocados when they are available," concluded McIntyre.
For more information:
Hayden McIntyre
Sierra Pacific Farms
Tel: (+1) 951-699-9980
[email protected]
www.spfarminc.com