From the Fields - Arby Kitzman

By Arby Kitzman, San Luis Obispo County avocado grower

The 2024 crop year was the worst we’ve ever had. The last 10 years, we have averaged over 11,000 pounds per acre. This year, out of 8 acres, we harvested about 10,500 pounds. The weather during fruit set in the spring of 2023 was foggy and cold, and our fruit set was not good.

One of the things that’s discouraging to me is that with so much regulation and costs, it’s going to be difficult to survive for a lot of people. Being a hobby farmer, we’ve done OK, but not anything where someone could survive commercially. The amount of regulatory influence gets heavier every year. Smaller growers have to do almost the same amount of paperwork that larger growers do.

My daughter and son-in-law have stepped up and helped us out a lot. They have been doing most of the pruning, which is the hardest part. My daily responsibilities are maintaining our irrigation system. Most of the wells in our area and mine are only approximately 100 feet. Out of my three wells, I can collect enough water to accommodate my trees and irrigation system.

Lately, we have harvested in the summer months, usually around July. The bulk of the avocados come in from Mexico. Our fruit is harvested mainly in spring, summer and early fall. Living on the coast with cooler temperatures, we can select our harvest dates much easier than people who live in the warmer areas like Escondido and maybe Ventura.

It’s getting harder for California avocado growers to make a profit with the amount of fruit that comes in from Mexico. That’s why we watch the prices for Mexico. When fruit production starts to drop in Mexico, that’s when most California avocado growers try to harvest their fruit and get in when prices are a little higher. We have handlers that we have sold to over the years. We try to watch the pricing and then sell to them.