Nation enjoys the rapid spread of guacamole
Avocado consumption soars in U.S. as image gains healthy aspect
To hear Emiliano Escobedo tell it, the avocado industry knew it had scored with the American consumer when guacamole became a mainstay for watching the Super Bowl.
It also caught on for college basketball’s March Madness — and Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day.
“I always say avocado people are party people,” said Escobedo, executive director of the Irvine, Calif.-based Hass Avocado Board. “You can’t go to aparty and not have guacamole.”
But the avocado story isn’t just about guacamole.
Not long ago, East Coast and Midwest shoppers curious about avocados found only flavorless, hard-as-baseball fruit that, when sliced, didn’t look or smell anything like what they’d tried at a Mexican restaurant.
These days, the fruit can be found ripe throughout the country, yearround. It’s a condiment for sandwiches at Subway and part of the Santa Fe Breakfast Skillet at Denny’s. It’s a burger topper, salad ingredient, and touch of flavor and color in a sushi roll.
Avocado consumption in the U.S. has skyrocketed, Escobedo said, growing about 1,200 percent since the start of the millennium 14 years ago. Last year, more than 3.3 billion avocados were consumed in the
United States, which works out to about 10 per person.
USDA statistics show 38,676 metric tons of avocados were imported from Mexico in 2004, for a value of $59.9 million. In only the first five months of this year, 258,430 metric tons came in from Mexico, for a value of $567.8 million.
“It keeps on growing and growing at doubledigit growth,” Escobedo said. “The growth in the demand in the United States has been consistent.” End of restrictions
One key reason for the soaring popularity was the 2005 end of restricting imports from Mexico, something growers in California — by far the largest U.S. region for avocado production — feared. Previously, Mexican avocados were only allowed in some states on the East Coast. That changed as Mexican growers were able to demonstrate that their product could be exported with no threat of spreading pests to U.S. groves.
With availability came affordability for inland U.S. consumers, who were getting more exposure to Mexican food as the nation’s Latino population grew.
As avocado sales grew, so did the budget for advertising, thanks to a government-mandated program that assesses producers a 2.5 cents perpound fee for marketing.
The industry also has poured funding into research on the nutritional benefits of the fruit, and has touted it as nutrientdense, with more than 20 vitamins and minerals.
“There’s been a change in perception,” Escobedo said. “Even 10 years ago, a lot of consumers thought avocados were fattening. That’s changing.”
The message has been “that it’s a ‘good fat.’ And a lot of that has been the result of our work.”
Almost all the Mexican avocados come from the state of Michoacán, and the majority come in through Texas ports at Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. Thousands more loads
In2011, there were 16,391 truckloads of avocados coming through Texas. In 2013, there were 26,200.
“There has been growing demand ever since the U.S. markets have been open to avocado distribution coming from Mexico,” said Bret Erickson, president of the Texas International Produce Association. “They’ve been very aggressive about marketing the product, and you see it more and more in restaurants, incorporated in different fashions and different ways. It tastes good, and people are catching on to the health benefits.” Global standard
California’s avocado industry started in the early 20th century but took off when a postman named Rudolph Hass grafted the variety that’s now the worldwide standard, and grown in Mexico, Peru, Chile and California.
In the early 1980s, Gil Henry developed a forcedair ripening system.
As soon as the market opened to Mexican avocados, Henry took his system to what’s now a 20,000-square-foot facility in San Antonio’s produce terminal, making it a hub for avocados coming across the border at Laredo.
It was a novel concept — and one not all retailers have adopted, said Phil Henry, a cousin of Gil Henry. But he said his own research shows consumers want to buy avocados ripe enough to use that night.
“We’ve proven that with video cameras, with me standing in the stores,” Henry said.