California avocado growers say Mexican imports have helped their sales

Winnipeg Free Press

4 days ago

SOMIS, Calif. (AP) — Andreas Tompros lost his home and at least a third of his avocado orchard to a wildfire last year, but the 47-year-old grower is not worried about his farm making a comeback.
While California farmers often rattle off a list of challenges they face including high labor costs, water restrictions and overseas competition, many avocado growers say they have a good thing going. A key reason may come as a surprise to some — Mexican imports.
When the United States lifted its ban on Mexican avocados in 1997, California growers worried at first that the imported fruit would displace their production.
But the steady flow of avocados has wound up helping, not hurting, their sales by allowing for a year-round supply to markets and restaurants that has fomented demand, farmers say. Before the influx, most American consumers considered avocados to be specialty items — and when they came into season in California, industry officials had to work to rev up widespread interest in order to sell them.
But not anymore.
Avocado consumption has been booming in the United States over the past two decades. The amount of fruit available per person tripled to more than 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) between 2000 and 2021, federal statistics show. Avocado toast and guacamole are regular offerings not just in culinary hubs like NYC but at cafes around the Midwest and the South.
Avocados are in demand
On a steep, sun-soaked hillside northwest of Los Angeles, Tompros is replanting nearly 300 avocado trees with the belief that Americans' hunger for the fruit — and his orchard — will continue to grow.
'It will come back, and I believe it will become better than it was,' Tompros, who previously ran a software company in Hollywood, said of the orchard he took over five years ago in the tiny community of Somis.
Avocado demand has also been buoyed by consumers' growing interest in healthy fats, said Emiliano Escobedo, executive director of the Hass Avocado Board.
A 2000 U.S. law created the board that collected 2.5 cents for every pound (0.5 kilograms) of avocados imported or produced in the United States. The board used the money to market avocados and conduct nutritional research, an effort that has been widely credited with making the fruit ubiquitous in supermarkets and on restaurant menus.
'It's been really wildly successful. It generates way more money than most of these other industry boards do,' said Richard Sexton, distinguished professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California, Davis. 'When you look at the growth rate in avocado consumption relative to all fruits, the difference in growth rate is dramatic.'
A successful crop
Escobedo said about 60% of U.S. households currently buy avocados, and about half of these are responsible for the overwhelming majority of consumption, which means there's still room for the market to grow — especially in the Northeast, where the fruit is less common.
'There is a lot of opportunity for certain groups of people to increase their purchasing of avocados,' Escobedo said.
While the Trump administration has threatened tariffs on a spate of Mexican goods, avocados have so far been spared. California growers said they want Mexican avocados to keep flowing into the country, though they also want robust U.S. inspections of the imports to keep out pests to protect their crop.
'If you are going to farm in California, avocados are about the best deal right now,' said Ken Melban, president of the California Avocado Commission.
California farmers grow about 10% of the avocados eaten in the United States, Melban said, and account for nearly all of the country's domestic avocado production. The fruit is largely grown in California from April through September, and Mexican imports arrive year-round to meet nationwide demand, which exceeds what the state's farmers grow, he said.
In Southern California's Ventura County, many growers have shifted to avocados since lemon prices were walloped by cheaper imports from Argentina. As recently planted trees start bearing fruit in a few years, the region's avocado production is likely to rise, said Korinne Bell, agricultural commissioner for the county northwest of Los Angeles.
A booming market, despite wildfires
Avocado trees do not come without risks in a region prone to wildfires.
Still, demand for the trees has jumped due to interest from lemon growers — and since the November 2024 fire charred Ventura County avocado orchards, said Rob Brokaw, whose family-owned nursery has supplied avocado trees to California growers for 70 years.
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'Right now we are sold out essentially for this year,' Brokaw said. 'And we're mostly sold out for 2026.'
Tompros debated whether to plant the more fire-resistant lemon trees or another crop after the fire ripped through Somis, but he decided to replant due to the soaring demand for Super Bowl guacamole and avocado toast.
'It's the super food, and it's still growing in popularity,' Tompros said.
He's taking precautions to not plant the trees too close to what will eventually be his rebuilt home, because the dried-out leaves that help nourish the orchard's soil can also fuel blazes.
It may take a few years, but Tompros hopes it won't be too long before his newly planted trees bear fruit that he can sell to a local packinghouse or in seasonal gift boxes with citrus and passionfruit that he ships directly to customers.