The country has too many … avocados? Credited with starting the avocado toast craze (and preventing Millennials the world over from being able to afford a home), Australia planted thousands of avocado trees over the past few years to keep up with demand.
Avocado production has boomed in Australia in recent years with enormous growth between 2017 and 2019, the report said. "Each year, during that period, over 1,000 hectares of avocado trees were planted, and [those] trees are still to mature and still to produce avocados," Ms Piggott said.
Key points: By 2026, Australia's avocado supply is expected to be more than double what it was in 2021. Consumers embraced lower prices brought on by the glut, but farmers say it is unsustainable. Avocados Australia says it is working to open new export markets to take the fruit.
This is good news for consumers: In 2022, each Australian household consumes 31.2 percent more avocados, and pays 29 percent less on average, compared to the previous year.
Avocado production in Australia
Australia imports avocados from New Zealand, mainly from September to March, which supplements the Australian supply during the spring/summer harvest season.
According to the most recent data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Mexico tops this list, as it is the largest avocado producer in the world.
On average, Mexico is responsible for approximately a third of the global production of avocados. Mexico is the only country on Earth that has produced more than a million tons of avocados in a single year, but the Dominican Republic also grows a large percentage of the world's avocados.
Conclusion. Avocado consumption and production have seen a dramatic increase in recent years, with the United States leading the way as both the largest consumer and importer of avocados. Mexico is currently the world's top producer, followed by Peru, Indonesia, Spain and South Africa.
The Hass variety is the predominant avocado produced in Australia, accounting for approximately 81 per cent production, with Shepard accounting for about 16 per cent. Other varieties such as Reed, Sharwil, Gwen, Wurtz and Fuerte make up the balance.
If you can't tell, Australians like to shorten their words! Avo: this is what we call an avocado. This is a good one to know, because smashed avo (mashed avocado on toast) is very popular in Australian cafes.
“The updated long-term forecast suggests Australia's avocado production is expected to continue to increase to about 170,000 tonnes by 2026, more than double the 2020-21 crop. As a result of the oversupply, this year growers experienced unsustainable, low average wholesale prices.
Iconic Aussie restauranteur Bill Granger first put avocado on a piece of toast and served it at his café in Sydney's Darlinghurst back in 1993. Not only did he launch 'brunch' as we now know it, but he also sparked Australia's great love affair with the versatile fruit.
Avocado trees owe their continued existence to their unusually long lifespan and hungry humans. Central Mexico has avocado trees as old as 400 years of age. Because avocados live so much longer than other fruit trees, they were able to survive until another consumer, this time hungry humans, came along.
Australia produced just over 122,197 tonnes of avocados in 2021/22, which was 56% more than the previous year. The gross value of production (GVP) for Australian avocados was estimated at $403 million. Queensland continues to produce the majority of Australian avocados, with 48% of production.
So for nearly 90 years, people had no understanding of of what an Avocado was or what to do with it. As demographics began to change, many Latin dishes that rose in popularity helped bring avocados into the mainstream.
The overproduction is largely due to the huge boom in popularity of avocados between 2017 and 2019 which saw thousands of new avocado trees being planted. "Each year, during that period, over 1,000 hectares of avocado trees were planted, and trees are still to mature and still to produce avocados," the report said.
Based on the Tablelands, Howe Farming supplies Coles with over four million avocados annually, mainly the popular Hass variety and the lesser-known Shepard (those with the smoother glossy green skin).
In the United Kingdom the term avocado pear, applied when avocados first became commonly available in the 1960s, is sometimes used. Originating as a diminutive in Australian English, a clipped form, avo, has since become a common colloquialism in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Mexico dominates the avocado arena
In comparison, the U.S. only produced 187,433 tons of the fruit, which is certainly not enough to keep up with the American appetite.
Mexico is the largest producer and exporter of avocados in the world, with the United States as its main commercial client, a country to which avocado exports have grown enormously in recent years.
This is the delicious Hass avocado, which travels straight from the coastal valleys of Peru to European supermarkets. The quality of this superfood lies in the durability of its shell, which makes it easy to transport, as well as in its small stone which means it has an abundance of soft flesh.
Avocado is a native of tropical America. It originated in Mexico and Central America, possibly from more than one wild species. The early Spanish explorers recorded its cultivation from Mexico to Peru but it was not in the West Indies at that time.
Fallbrook is immediately east of the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton. Fallbrook is known for its avocado groves and claims, without any official recognition, the title "Avocado Capital of the World".
Hass Avocados in Mexico
The growing Hass avocado popularity during the 1950s was so great that producers in Mexico started growing the Hass over other indigenous varieties. In fact, the world's largest producer of Hass avocados is in Mexico and shipped over 1.7 billion pounds of the fruit to the US in 2017.