The avocado industry is in a good position to harvest and sell in excess of five million trays this coming season - its biggest crop ever, says Ashby Whitehead, chairman of the Avocado Industry Council.

Lessons have been learned from the mistakes of the last big crop in 2011-2012 when an over-supply into the Australia market caused prices to fall and many growers received poor returns.

Since then there have been dramatic changes within the export industry with amalgamations and closer co-operation between export companies, so now about 80 per cent of the crop is expected to be handled by three exporters.

“In the last 18 months exporters have been talking together and while they are naturally protecting their intellectual property, they are happy to discuss volumes, which is a positive and what growers want them to do.

“I believe with the Avocado Exporters Council meeting regularly under the conditions of Horticulture Export Authority, and the formation of AVANZA and AVOCO we now have in place systems which are as good as they can get for growers,” he says.

“The exporters say they want our fruit and can market it. They are developing new markets too and for the first time in many years we will be exporting fruit to the USA.”

He says the fruit will have to travel a lot further and must have the legs to arrive in excellent quality. “That means growers will have to apply regular fungicide sprays as that’s been scientifically proven to help produce the best quality fruit.”

Ashby says the Australian market will not be an easy one as Western Australian growers are also predicting a large crop.

“We have been talking with the Australian industry and things are amicable at present but we can’t blame them if they become parochial and want to protect their own patch once the harvest begins.

“Demand is strong for New Zealand avocados and we must work to ensure the flow of volumes into Australia is managed in an orderly manner.”

Cooperation between marketing companies is also evident on-shore with companies working to manage the local market in order to maintain quality and prices.

Growers must do their part by picking fruit to the flow plans exporters provide, says Ashby. The fact fruit doesn’t have to be picked all at once means, with careful planning and management, growers can harvest across three to four months to meet the right markets.

Overall, Ashby says there is an air of optimism within the industry which hasn’t been there for some time.

“Many growers, including myself, know only too well what it’s like to have no income at all from their orchards.

“Some Whangarei growers were hard hit last year, but indications are that they are back on target to have a good volume of fruit this season.”

Restructuring in the exporter sector, the recent ‘Go Global’ $8.56m Primary Growth Partnership programme to lift industry performance and returns and the expediential growth in demand for avocado world-wide means the New Zealand industry is in an excellent place, says Ashby.

“Word has obviously got out because I have received calls from businessmen keen to invest in the industry.”