CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



71 



PROPER METHODS OF MARKETING THE AVOCADO 



L. W. ALBRIGHT 



The marketing of the Cahfornia avocado is a problem of such great impor- 

 tance and magnitude that I hesitated very much before agreeing to speak on this 

 subject. 



At the May meeting of the Avocado Association last year a very able 

 paper on this subject was presented by Mr. A. F. Yaggy. He handled the 

 subject so thoroughly and in such an able manner that there is very little I can 

 say at this time that was not brought out very forcibly by him and about the 

 best I can do is to verify some of the important points which he brought out. 



The past year has demonstrated very conclusively that a marketing organ- 

 ization for avocado fruits is absolutely necessary to the success of the industry, 

 and had the association adopted some form of marketing before the present sea- 

 son started, the growers would have been much benefited in returns for this year's 

 crop. Up to about the middle of February the large bulk of the crop was 

 bringing the growers from 60 to 80 cents a pound, the average around 70 cents. 

 About the middle of February fruit commenced coming on the market in great 

 quantities and at much lower prices — around 40c per lb. The reason for this 

 was twofold: 



First, the large crop of fruit in sight to be marketed. 



Second, lack of a guiding hand to direct the marketing. 



Every grower seemed to be trying to get his fruit on the market ahead of 

 his neighbor for fear that by the time he had a chance to market his fruit without 

 making an extra effort to do so he would be able to get very little for it. I 

 believe I am right when I say that over 50 per cent of the fruit which has been 

 put on the Los Angeles market within the past 60 days could have been left 

 on the trees to the advantage of the grower and the consumer. The grower 

 would have received more for what fruits were marketed and the consumer would 

 have received a better quality of fruits if the fruit had remained longer on the 

 tree. Had there been an organization for marketing the fruit, it would have 

 developed a market for this product in other parts of the country, thus taking a 

 good deal of fruit from the local market, allowing it to bring the grower a much 

 better price. 



A year ago last April, having been closely associated with a dealer in 

 avocados, we set about to find out what kind of a market there was for avocados 

 in the middle western and eastern cities. The replies we received were not very 

 encouraging, for they contained the information that the market at that time 

 was taken care of by imported fruits at a considerably lower price than the Cali- 

 fornia fruits were bringing in the local market, and that this condition would prob- 

 ably remain throughout the summer and early fall, so the ma'ter was given no 

 further attention by us. In the early part of January of this year we received 

 inquiries from some of these markets for California avocados, but were given to 

 understand that nothing but strictly first class fruits would be acceptable. We 

 at once sent forward some Fuerte avocados, the only first class California fruit 

 obtainable at that time, and we were unable to obtain more than a small quantity 

 of them as the sizes they requested — from 1 4 to 18 ounces — were very scarce. 



