AVO SHORTAGE STARTS TO BITE
NOT JUST HIPSTERS ARE HURTING
HIPSTERS can forget their smashed avo on sourdough this week, with an avocado shortage leading some Toowoomba cafes to increase prices of the popular fruit, or cut them from menus entirely.
Ravensbourne avocado farmer Daryl Boardman said the shortage was because the fruit was out of season.
“At the moment it is an in-between season,” the Sunnyspot Farms owner said.
“Western Australia is finishing up and New Zealand is too.
“We’re waiting for the North Queensland fruit to start in March.”
Urth Cafe owner Julie Forster said the business had to put a $1 surcharge on avocado dishes.
“We’re basically paying $4 for a small avocado, that’s why we have to put up prices,” she said.
“We don’t want to do it, but otherwise we’d be losing money.
“As soon as they come down in price we’ll cut the surcharge.”
Mr Boardman, who also owns avocado farms at Hampton and Bundaberg and is on the board of Avocados Australia, said the prices would reduce when there was more volume.
“We’re in a supply and demand stage of the crop cycle at the moment. We have more people wanting to eat them then what farmers can go,” he said.
“We are doing a lot about that. A lot of farmers, even ourselves, have planted a lot of trees over the past couple of years to keep up with demand.”
Mr Boardman said it took about five years from planting for avocado trees to start growing more fruit.
“Seeing people loving avocados at the moment is just fantastic,” Mr Boardman said.
He said he hoped to see more rain soon, before picking season started in the Toowoomba region in July.
“The crop won’t size properly if trees don’t have enough water,” he said.