68 



ANNUAL REPORT 1919 AND 1920 



avocados and who is broad enough to look at the matter from our standpoint. 

 He says: "I think sales direct from grower to consumer is not the correct way. 

 * * * I think the Avocado Association should form a marketing place in Los 

 Angeles where the growers could take or ship fruit and receive a price per 

 pound, such price to be determined by the board of directors after they have 

 carefully canvassed the situation as to the amount of fruit available. The fruit 

 should be distributed from this marketing point to local consumers and shipped 

 to distant markets. They could arrange for growers to ship direct to consumers 

 and distant markets but it should be done under direction of this marketing point. 

 These are the most important points, and I think should be discussed thoroughly 

 by members of the Association." 



Naturally, we should start in a small way. Our big problem is to tell the 

 public about avocados and furnish them the kinds that make them want more. 

 At present the public on this coast is big enough for us to tackle. As one of our 

 members brought out in a paper several years ago, we should have 1 00,000 cus- 

 tomers in Los Angeles alone. We should see that every one of the thousands of 

 rich and intelligent tourists who come here annually has ample opportunity to taste 

 the finest fruit that California can grow. We must make sure that the public 

 knows what a ripe avocado is. We must educate the trade, from boss to clerk, 

 and we must tell the chef to put the soft pedal on the peanut-oil mayonnaise 

 and the cottonseed oil French dressing. We must get a brand, trade mark or 

 some slogan that will appeal to the public more than our present cry of "Eat 

 Avocados." and that will eventually accumulate a valuable good-will for us. We 

 must advertise as much as our means allow at the proper time — ^when our crop 

 is heaviest. We must always be sure of having a supply of rich, ripe fruit to 

 satisfy the trade after we have stimulated the craving for our product. 



We should have an office where the hundred thousand questions of our 

 hundred thousand ultimate consumers will be courteously and intelligently an- 

 swered, where the trade can send their orders, where our secretary will have at 

 least a modest equipment for the transaction of his ever-increasing business, where 

 our members can make their headquarters in Los Angeles. In connection with the 

 office we could have a packing-room where shipments received from the growers 

 could be inspected, sorted, repacked for local or distant shipment. Such a place 

 would soon become the most interesting and the most important place to the avocado 

 industry. We should have to select the location with a view to its expansion in 

 the near future. 



Until we centralize our marketing operations and all co-operate for the 

 common good there will be almost as many different opinions as there are members 

 of the Association on even the most important subjects. Take the question of 

 prices, for instance : One of our members who has large, handsome fruit for sale 

 has received as high as $14 a dozen for his fruit; another sold fruit weighing 

 about a pound each to a Los Angeles store for $7 a dozen which the store sold 

 for $2 each ; another sold all his at $ 1 a dozen ; another sold his fancy Guate- 

 malan fruit for $1 a pound; another says that 60 to 75 cents a pound for the 

 Guatemalan type fruit and 25 to 35 cents a pound for the thin-skinned is correct; 

 another got 45 cents a dozen for his thin-skinned on the trees, and they are good 

 fruit averaging 6 to 8 ounces; another with fruit sHghtly smaller got $1.50 a 

 dozen delivered to the nearby market; another sells his Fuertes at $7 a dozen 

 locally; another sells his Fuertes at $10 a dozen less 10% commission in San 

 Francisco; one sells to a large hotel at 50 cents a pound. Levy & Zentner quote: 

 J/2 pound fruit $3.00 doz. ; J4 pounds fruit $5.00 doz.; 1 pound fruit $5.00 



