As the California avocado season was getting into full swing in March, Bob Lucy, co-owner of Del Rey Avocado Co. Inc. in Fallbrook, CA, was optimistic that a very good season would ensue.

“Right now we have a very strong market and I expect that to continue. This should be a very good year,” he said.

Del Rey began marketing California fruit to select customers in late January as some wanted to feature California avocados for their promotions timed to coincide with the Super Bowl.

In general, Lucy expects this year’s avocado crop to be marketed a bit earlier than last year. Lucy said the California drought, which continues to plague the state’s agricultural industry, and the presence of Peruvian fruit into the market during summer, are major factors in the timing of the marketing.

Smaller Morro Bay fruit is marketed in a modified egg carton as ‘Gator Eggs.’Because of the availability and cost of water, growers want to get the fruit sized and off the tree as quickly as they can, albeit in a timely fashion. And there is no doubt that Peru’s crop headed for the United States, which is estimated to be north of 200 million pounds, will have an impact on the marketplace. Most of that fruit will end up on the East Coast.

With growing U.S. consumption, most of California’s fruit will be sold in the western half of the United States. There just isn’t enough California fruit to fill the display racks in all sectors of the country. “About 90 percent of our focus in on the West Coast,” said Lucy. “California represents a very strong core of our business.”

He then rattled off a list of California retailers that Del Rey does business with. Many were the high-end, upscale retailers noted for their regional operations throughout the state. However, Lucy said the company does have East Coast accounts that take about 10 percent of its California production.

Even though the vast majority of California’s production will be sold by late summer, Del Rey will have late fruit from the Golden State as it represents much of the fruit from the Morro Bay area. Growers in that more northern region produce later in the season and a good many of them sell their fruit collectively under the “Morro Bay” brand.

The growers claim that the cool, coastal weather that requires the fruit to stay on the tree longer produces a superior-tasting avocado. It’s a niche play, but Lucy said “without a doubt the Morro Bay avocado is a premium avocado that does taste better,” at least at that time of year. He said the fruit has its following and Del Rey has no trouble getting a premium price for it.

He also credited the Morro Bay area, and specifically Jim Shanley of Shanley Farms, for introducing consumers to the “Gator Egg.” Shanley began marketing smaller Morro Bay fruit — 84 size — in a modified egg carton. He calls them single-serve avocados that contain fewer than 100 calories.

“It was a crazy, good idea,” said Lucy. “It might not be a home run but it’s a solid double.”

Lucy said the idea has spread to all growing regions and points of origin and this previously unmarketed fruit has found many willing buyers. Lucy said it means extra money in the grower’s pocket as groves yield more pounds.