My daughter made guacamole with the last Lamb avocado from our home grove this evening. It is early January. What will we pick next? Fuerte.

This reminds me of our family trip to South Africa in March, for it was during this same season in the southern hemisphere — when the Lamb harvest ends and the Fuerte begins.

Check out this short video I took while in South Africa, and notice the similarities and differences to our avocado scene here in California:

Similarities? Even when it is not Hass season, you can still find imported Hass in grocery stores. And the imported Hass avocados are mostly junk.

Differences? You can also find locally grown Fuerte avocados.

So my question is: California, here in January, where are your locally grown Fuerte avocados?

As you probably already know, most of the Fuerte avocado trees in California are now in backyards, no longer on farms. We don’t have locally grown Fuerte avocados in stores anymore because we don’t have the trees from which to pick.

There are a few old Fuertes remaining on farms here and there. In fact, last January, I was out on a farm in Fallbrook harvesting Fuerte avocados from some old trees and I could not resist but video them and exclaim about how superior this variety is to anything else in the winter — especially superior to imported Hass.

My Fuerte exclamation:

I end the video saying, “Grow it. Demand that farmers provide it [Fuerte] for you.”

You really should grow Fuerte if you have the yard space for a tree. Here is my profile of the Fuerte variety, and here is my post about other varieties to grow in order to harvest avocados year-round at home.

As for farmers growing and selling Fuerte avocados, a few who do are:

Apricot Lane Farm

Emerald Hills Farm

Nordeen Farm

Bacon avocados also taste as good as Bacons get in January. Bacons are available from:

Southland Farm

Dickinson Farm

For all of the above, I know the farmers or have eaten the farm’s avocados.

But why not more? Why have Fuertes in particular nearly gone extinct on California farms?

Ask a farmer and he would probably say that Fuerte trees bear too erratically.

Ask someone in the marketing side of the avocado industry and he would probably say that people are used to Hass now so they expect the skin of avocados to turn black.

This is all partially true, but only partially.

California avocado history in one paragraph

A hundred years ago, California farmers grew many avocado varieties, each with a different look, taste, and harvest season, and they supplied the local market year round. Fuerte became the most commonly grown variety for the winter into spring period. Later, Hass became the most common spring into summer variety grown. But gradually, the interests of marketers, foreign operations, and government aligned in various ways that lead to a commodification of avocados into the single-variety industry we have today: Hass only, please.

Where do we go from here?

We avocado eaters do want avocados other than Hass. If for no other reason, we want to be able to buy local avocados when Hass are not in season. Also, local California avocados of any variety are usually superior in eating quality compared to imports. So where will things go from here?

I’m going to put my neck out and make predictions.

1. Avocado farmers in California growing only Hass will gradually go out of business. Such farmers cannot compete with the low costs of water, land, labor, and fewer regulations of Mexico. It is like being in a boxing ring with Cassius Clay; it won’t last long.

2. The extinction will happen from the south to the north. Water and land are most expensive in the south, and water quality is worse in the south, and rainfall is lowest in the south (San Diego County). But it will creep northward. Ventura County and above will last a few more rounds but will also gradually be knocked out insofar as they continue to grow Hass only and try to box with Mr. Clay.

3. Avocado farmers in California who stay in the business of growing avocados will grow plenty of non-Hass varieties, catering mostly to the local market, and in response to the local market. This will be a bottom-up change. These farmers will have listened to the desires of the end-consumers, the eaters.

I’m terrible at making predictions. Ha! So I’m sure I’m wrong about some, or even all, of the above. But that is the way I see it from my chair on this day.

In 1999, I was traveling through Minneapolis and ate at a restaurant with some locals after they took me ice fishing. On the menu I saw a “California burger.”

“What is that?” I asked.

“It probably has some of that green paste on it.”

This was how familiar he was with avocados and this was how affectionate he felt toward them.

Times have changed.

Many people outside of California now love avocados, and many people who have moved out of California are not satisfied with what is currently available in grocery stores in Utah, Wyoming, Texas, or Minnesota, for they grew up eating real avocados. The “local” market is growing.

I sell a small quantity of non-Hass avocados each year, with the main purpose of giving prospective home growers the opportunity to taste varieties before planting them. (What if you’ve never eaten a Fuerte, Sharwil, or Reed avocado? It would be no fun to spend years growing the tree only to find out that you’re not a big fan of the fruit.)

I will do so again this year. Fuertes will be available soon.

Related posts:

The Lamb avocado tree: a profile

Why only one variety of avocado in grocery stores? with Mary Lu Arpaia

Gray Martin revisits his “Eight Predictions” of 1996

What happened to the Gwen avocado?

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