The need for increased capacity led While McDaniel Fruit Co. sources avocados from various points of origin, the only fruit packed in the Fallbrook facility is grown in California. “McDaniel has long been bullish on California,” said the third-generation member of the family-owned company. “We are a San Diego business and we’ve been a grower here for 75 years. We see California adding production and we believe there is still more room for growth.”
Though most of the growth is in Ventura County and the more northern growing regions, McDaniel said there has also been new plantings in San Diego County. He added that the company sources from all California growing districts and the transportation to the San Diego County packing facility is not a limiting factor.
As the California season gets underway, Carson McDaniel believes it’s going to be a very good year for local growers. Speaking in late February, he noted that 20 million pounds of the forecasted 400-million-pound California crop have already been marketed. “We have had a historic January,” he said, noting that Mexico had issues meeting the demand. The resulting high prices led some California growers to size pick and begin marketing their crop earlier than usual.
The market price has retreated a bit and a couple of February rainstorms reduced the number of picking days, but McDaniel expects March to provide more opportunities for California growers. He still believes that a sizable majority of the state’s fruit will be sold in the April through July time frame. There should also be limited supplies through late summer and early fall.
There is uncertainty about the volume that remains from Mexico, but McDaniel said he is not able to shed any light on that subject. “I’ll leave it to the APEAM and MAHIA experts (Mexico’s avocado industry associations) to figure that out,” he said. “There still does appear to be some constraints on supply.”
Turning his attention back to the California crop, McDaniel said that there were some wind events in the past couple of months as well as reports of fire damaging some acreage. Nonetheless, he believes the 400 million pounds estimated by the California Avocado Commission before the season began is an accurate number at this point in time. In 2024, the industry greatly underestimated the size of the crop as many young trees performed much better than expected. Industry estimators believe they have made the necessary adjustments in their guesstimates and don’t expect to be fooled again this year, though a spring adjustment to the preseason estimate is always a part of the program.
