Despite the rainy winter seen on the Central Coast this year, one local grower in Morro Bay says they are harvesting more fruit than in previous years.
“It is hard to speak about other farms, but for us, it has been very beneficial with the rain,” said Bruce Harwood, store manager of the Morro Creek Ranch off Highway 41 and Morro Road.
He says the drainage systems on their ranch helped keep standing rainwater from damaging their tree farm, which has resulted in a longer harvesting season.
“It has been a bumper crop this year,” Harwood added. “As opposed to 2021, where the crop was basically done at the end of January, for 2022, here we are and we still have that crop.”
In turn, this summer you can expect a big dip in the prices for Hass avocados at the ranch.
“The cases were $72 I believe last year. This year, we are selling them for $49,” Harwood told KSBY.
At the statewide level, however, the California Avocado Commission is expecting the overall harvest of local growers to see a 7% dip compared to last year’s figures, which remains a worry for Michael Wolfe of the Avocado Shack in Morro Bay.
“The set is the biggest concern, and we will know soon how many of those tiny baby little avocados stay on and how many fall off, and that will determine the price,” Wolfe said.
Still, he says for the farmers, as well as his regular customers, after years of drought in California, he expects this winter’s rains may also have an impact of avocado harvests in 2024.
“We didn’t have as much yield, there was limited produce, higher prices, So the rain has had its advantages and disadvantages,” said Helen Sepulveda, a regular customer at the Avocado Shack.
“Farmers are thrilled to have some refilling of their wells again so there is plenty of water to irrigate with. The trees love it, they will be healthier trees, So, it should be a better forecast going into the future. But for next year’s set, it is looking like it will be really a great year,” Wolfe added.
It is expected that most California growers will wrap up their harvesting season later this summer, but Wolfe says you can come by the Avocado Shack and find them year-round.
The California Avocado Commission anticipates that Hass avocados will account for roughly 240 million pounds of the 257 million statewide pounds of avocados to be harvested this year.
