Notes from our grove on the business of growing avocados: costs, prices, labor, water rates and imports. Start with our complete guide: What It Really Costs to Run a California Avocado Farm.
California avocado farming is facing an unprecedented economic squeeze, driving thousands of multigenerational growers out of the agricultural industry. In Escondido, our…
For every dollar you spend on food at the grocery store, about 10 cents reaches the farmer. That is the farm gate…
How many avocados can one tree carry? Earlier this month we set out to count the fruit on one of ours. We…
Where do most avocados come from? The grocery store, of course. That is the joke answer, and for most shoppers it is…
We are planting 400 two-year-old Hass avocado trees across the lower five acres of our 10-acre commercial grove on the mountain north…
Behind the scenes, daily life in a California commercial avocado grove is a mix of tree work, irrigation checks and family life…
How fresh is a farm-direct avocado? In the week this video was filmed, Becca picked the orders on a Monday morning and…
Avocado fruit drop is an unavoidable part of orchard life, but when severe weather sweeps through Southern California, the losses become immediately…
Why is the American farmer disappearing? Becca asked Kirk that one morning this week, with him behind the camera and an avocado…
A freshly picked avocado usually takes about 7 to 10 days to ripen at room temperature, and up to two weeks in…
We harvested 52,000 pounds of premium Hass and lost $30,203. The full economics of a California avocado grove: water, farm gate pricing,…
Our Hass harvest is finished for the year, and Fuerte season is next: the Fuertes on our trees are sizing up now…
Reviving a commercial avocado grove comes down to three things done in order: secure water, bring in power, and replant with trees…
At the end of every avocado harvest we hold back a batch of mature fruit from the last commercial pick for our…
AB 1066 backfired on many California farmworkers because most farms responded to overtime after 40 hours by capping schedules at 40 and…
