Rick Shade of Shade Farms has been growing avocados for 45 years. The property he manages has around 5,200 trees.
"I wish I could say I know each one of them personally, but they are my babies," Shade said.
Last year, Shade says they harvested around 250,000 pounds of avocados, which is average for them, but this year, he says he’s expecting a bigger harvest as his trees mature.
"I am fully expecting the crop that we're getting ready to set now for the 2026 year to be almost a record," Shade explained.
Most trees at Shade Farms are around 12-years-old, and Shade says the bumper crop is partially due to mother nature, but it also has a lot to do with the age of the trees.
"So we get our first harvest about three years after planting. We get the first significant harvest in about five years and then a slow gradual increase to peak production about year 10," Shade explained.
California Avocado Commission’s Terry Splane says they’re predicting a harvest of 375 million pounds of fruit statewide this year, compared to 350 million pounds last year, which he attributes to the industry's commitment to planting more trees.
"Over the last decade, approximately, we have had roughly 300,000 new trees going into the groves every year," Splane said.
That’s a net of 3 million new trees in 10 years, spread across 50,000 acres from San Diego to Morro Bay. In Santa Barbara County, there are around 5,700 acres of avocados, which rank as the third-highest-grossing fruit and nut crop, according to the county’s 2023 crop report, behind Blackberries and Strawberries.
So when you go to buy avocados this year, Farmer Shade has some advice for getting the perfect one.
"My best advice to people purchasing avocados is to buy them hard, then ripen them at home; that’s the best way to get quality fruit," Shade said.
Splane was asked if the California Avocado Commission tracks avocado prices at the store and if they expect prices to rise this year, but they declined to comment.
