In an unprecedented move during Fruit Logistica in Berlin, Germany, the world’s top avocado-producing countries have united to create the first global avocado entity, the World Avocado Organization. The primary purpose of the new organization is to promote the consumption of avocados in the European Union, Asia and other parts of the world through collectively self-funded marketing programs.James Bosworth

WAO is a U.S.-based non-profit global entity that is the first of its kind. The organization is composed of a board of directors representing the interests of its members, who are producers, exporters and importers from around the world. The founding member countries are Brazil, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and the United States.

“The World Avocado Organization represents the creation of a major international agricultural body that has been years in the making and is to date the only multinational global marketing organization of its kind,” James Bosworth of ProHass, the director for Peru and chairman of the WAO, said in a press release.

“The world is getting smaller and this commodity has achieved a global reach as people everywhere embrace the superfood nutritional benefits and taste of avocados,” Zac Bard of Westfalia, South African director and vice chairman of WAO, added in the press release.

The idea for a global umbrella organization for the promotion of avocados dates back several years. After nearly eight years of discussions, the idea came to fruition when the founding country members of the WAO agreed to move forward during the eighth World Avocado Congress in Lima, Peru, in September.

The organization’s name is a nod to the importance of the World Avocado Congress, which has been held in every major avocado-producing country in the world since it first convened in South Africa in 1987. The charter members wanted to give the organization a name that would be representative and inclusive of all of the founding and future members from around the globe.

The overall purpose of the organization is to promote the consumption of avocados in the second-largest consuming market for avocados in the world, the European Union, as well as emerging consumer markets in Asia, such as China and Japan, and other areas of the world.

The WAO plans to launch its first collectively funded marketing programs later this year in several European markets, including Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and select Scandinavian countries.

The European Union is the second-largest market for imported avocados in the world after the United States. In 2015, the European Union consumed approximately 800 million pounds of avocados, and in 2016 consumption is expected to increase by 10 percent.

In addition to Bosworth and Bard, the WAO officers include Ignacio Gonzalez of Avo-Select, the director from Mexico, who is secretary; and Jim Donovan of Mission Produce, the director from the United States, who is treasurer.