Commission Hosts District Grower Meetings — 2024-25 Assessment Rate Discussion Continues

Board members and management of the California Avocado Commission held District grower meetings September 17-19 in Fallbrook, Ventura and San Luis Obispo. Reports were provided on current crop volume, budget and pricing, along with updates on marketing, research and advocacy. In addition, the Commission’s preliminary 2024-25 budget was presented. The full meeting presentation is available at this link and in the right-hand navigation.

The update reported an average price per pound of $1.39 through July and a ten-year average price per pound of $1.31 for California fruit. In addition, with the 2024 volume projected at 350 million pounds the ten-year annual production average is at 295.5 million pounds.

As reported, the Board is proposing to change the current percentage of value-based assessment rate to a flat per pound rate. It is believed this will provide more stability for growers in their annual budgeting, and the input from growers on this change was positive.

With this year’s larger than projected crop and resulting increase in reserves, the Board is considering a $0.00 per pound assessment rate for the 2024-25 season. This also was reported at the District meetings, which led to extensive discussion and input from growers.

In general, comments from the meetings focused on providing stability for a grower’s budget planning, with individual Districts’ discussions varying in some instances. A grower request for a partial rebate to growers was discussed in Fallbrook, which led to a discussion on current year volumes by Districts.

During the Ventura meeting discussion about budget stability for growers, concern was voiced that a $0.00 per pound assessment for 2024-25 would create an upswing to possibly $0.02 per pound assessment in 2025-26. This sentiment was strongly supported at the Ventura meeting, which led to the request for a straw-poll vote on the 2024-25 assessment. This resulted in a unanimous vote for a $0.01 per pound assessment.

San Luis Obispo was the third stop. The reports and updates were provided along with highlights of the two previous meetings. The consensus was supportive of maintaining a modest assessment rate for 2024-25 with a goal of the same in 2025-26.  

The Board will finalize the 2024-25 Commission budget and set an assessment rate at the October 10, 2024, Board meeting. All growers are encouraged to continue to participate in the process by sharing your opinion with Board member representatives and/or by attending (in-person or via Zoom) the Board’s October 10, 2024, meeting.

If you have any questions, please contact Ken Melban at [email protected].