Although an estimated 50 per cent of the Chilean avocado crop has been lost this season due to frost conditions in July and August, the outlook for the Hass avocado season is still bright. Fruit quality is proving to be as good as, if not better, than any other year, due to the high standards of growers and the technology available to them.
A total of 90 per cent of the Hass crop is exported to the UK, Europe and the US, so the growers’ priority is to maintain high standards in order to continue positive trading relationships.
“This season has been a struggle so far because of the frost this winter,” says Adolfo Ochagavía, president of the Chilean Hass Avocado Association, which was formed in 2003 to promote Hass avocados on behalf of the growers in Chile. “We expect only half as much as we produced last year, although it does depend on how the frost has affected the plant. With some plants it will take a couple of years to recuperate and they will not flower until next year, but others have only experienced a little damage and will be fine,” he adds.
Avocado trees need a temperature of at least 1°C to flourish, but in Chile, many avocado groves experienced temperatures as low as -4°C during the winter months. Losses have been high for some avocado growers, but the association has been on-hand to advise and direct. “We have been asking growers to leave fruit on the trees for longer and to let fruit affected by the frost to drop to the ground, so that quality will be higher,” says Ochagavía.
Some avocado growers were able to save a percentage of their yield by using technology such as wind machines, which mix the cold air around the plants with upper layers of warmer air to thin out the frost. One such grower was Juan Luis Bulnes, who expected to produce five million kg of avocados this season at his 550-hectare grove, which covers the areas of Orocoipo and Santa Blanca, but who will now come out with less than 3.5m kg. “This was the worst frost I have seen in my whole life,” says Bulnes. “There was a severe frost in California at the same time as in Chile and, as a result of two terrible seasons, the whole industry has been affected.”
Bulnes started growing avocados on his family’s 2,600ha plantation in 1990, due to the increasing demand for Hass avocados overseas. The family business grows lemons, nectarines, table grapes, mandarins and peaches in three different locations throughout Chile, but the avocado grove was established on the mountains in Orocoipo and Santa Blanca because of the high temperatures. “We only export Hass avocados because, compared to other avocado varieties, they travel well and are less likely to damage because of their hard skin,” says Bulnes.
He maintains that this season, Hass avocados have been characterised by low production, but the end product is just as good as last year. “The quality of the avocados we have exported is the same as last season. We are throwing away any fruit that has been affected by the frost,” he says.
Chilean avocado growers are focused on exporting more produce to the UK, and Bulnes sends approximately 30 per cent of his avocado crop to the UK and Europe. “There is a very good market in the UK and it is growing at a good rate,” he says. “Demand is stabilising and it is a country that asks for more. It has the best agricultural practices, which means that there are lots of hurdles to jump over but, despite this, is it still an important market.”
Last year, the UK imported more than 7,200 tonnes of Hass avocados, out of the total 228,000t of Chilean production. “The UK market is a challenge that the association is working on,” says Ochagavía. “We need to show the UK the advantages of Chilean Hass avocados in the first place, and then educate consumers on how to use the fruit.”
An organic range of Chilean Hass avocados is selling well in the UK and is a relatively effortless process for growers in Chile, as the climate already ensures limited use of any pesticides or fertilisers. “Organic produce is becoming more and more important to the UK market,” says Ochagavía. “We use fewer pesticides than in Mexico and we can take advantage of that.”
At Agricoms in Polpaico, one of the largest avocado packing facilities in Chile, the plant prides itself on packing avocados to GlobalGAP standards and packs for both the domestic and export markets. After washing and dropping the product’s temperature to 9°C, the avocados are dried and the quality of the individual fruit is checked by employees, who determine which fruit is good enough to be exported and which will go straight to the domestic market. The product is then divided into different sizes and hand packed. Agricoms has the capacity to pack 148t of avocados in one seven-hour day, says plant manager Carlos Muñoz. “Once a box destined for the UK has been packed, it can be traced back to the grove from a supermarket in the UK,” he says. “We label the box with a lot number and the grower’s name, and this enables the supermarket to trace the fruit back to the actual field it was picked from.”
Avocados packed at the Agricoms facility bear the association’s logo, which is a sign of ripeness. Fruit that is not ripe is rejected at the plantation, but to control quality, the association carries out further taste tests at the packing facility. The avocados are then stored at 4°C for up to two days, before they make the 22-day journey by ship in a controlled atmosphere to the UK.
Due to increased production costs and decreasing profit, Bulnes believes that the future of the Hass avocado crop lies with higher yields. “In Chile, the problem at the moment is the exchange rate,” says Bulnes. “Growers receive US dollars and they are getting a bad deal. In addition, labour and energy costs are rising. I think we must try to grow more per hectare and watch costs.”
And Bulnes is doing just that. He plans to plant a further 200ha of avocado trees on his grove this year, and expects extra yield after two years. “If we can yield more fruit, we can make as much profit as we used to,” says Bulnes. “We want to have almost 1,000ha of avocado trees eventually. We think there will be a big demand for avocados in the future. The European market is growing - mainly in the UK, but also in Spain and France - and we want to develop those markets.”
MARKET COMES TOP FOR FRUIT AND VEG
La Morocha, a fresh fruit and vegetable business, has been part of the Central Market in Santiago for more than 20 years and has only just started to feel the effect of supermarkets. “The marketplace as a whole is surviving because of the number of tourists who visit,” says Gabruila Guzrián, owner of the family business. “Supermarkets are a threat to us, as they sell a wide variety of products that are not sold here at the market. But, where fresh fruit and vegetables are concerned, you cannot compare our quality to the supermarket. We get a delivery every day, and everything is always fresh. People still prefer to come to the market for their fruit and vegetables.”
Although there is a constant demand for fresh produce at the seven-day market, there is hardly any need to import produce, as almost everything is grown in Chile. “As it is spring, cherimoyas and cherries are selling quickly,” says Guzrián. “But it has not been a very good year for avocados, because of the cold winter. The quality is fine, but there just have not been as many as usual. Everyone knows there is a problem, so customers are very sympathetic.”
AVOS GO JUMBO IN CHILEAN CHAIN
Chilean supermarket chain Jumbo is doing a roaring trade in Chilean avocados, and is enjoying the boom caused by the start of the season. The Jumbo supermarket in Santiago sells more than 54,000kg of Hass, Cruz, Fuerte and Baco avocados a week, says Juan Herreraurrutia, fruit and vegetable manager at the supermarket, pictured.
“People buy avocados every day and it is a stable part of their diet,” he says. “We receive a lot of criticism when we sell imported avocados from Mexico - people still buy them, but just not as many. And we struggle to get rid of Californian avocados.
“The quality of Chilean avocados has not been quite as good this season, but people who live here understand that there have been some problems with the weather.”
NURSING THE NEXT CROP
In 1992, Juan Luis Bulnes set up an avocado nursery on site at his avocado grove in Orocoipo and Santa Blanca to grow plants from seeds for both his own grove, and to sell to other commercial growers. Last year, the nursery produced more than 400,000 new plants, and 100,000 of those were sold for use outside the Bulnes grove.
The nursery has saved the grove a significant amount of money, with plants now costing half as much as they did when Bulnes bought them in. It also ensures that the plants are the best quality and suitable for the grove’s conditions.
“We grow the plants in field conditions, so that if the plants are weak, they will die here, not when they have been planted,” says Bulnes. “The plants grow in the nursery for a year, and the ones that survive will continue to grow further up the mountain.”
The seeds are packed into individual pots, with a 50:50 ratio of compost made from leaves from the avocado grove and the sandy soil found on the mountains.
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