California Avocado Commission upbeat for 2025 season, with higher volumes forecast

As the California Avocado Commission (CAC) looks ahead to the upcoming 2025 season, it has taken a moment to reflect on the past season which saw final production volumes significantly higher than originally forecast.

The organization had forecast just 208 million pounds of avocados in 2024, down from 237 million pounds the previous season. But in the end, the state's total production ended up over 50% higher at close to 350 million pounds, in large part thanks to favorable weather.

The increased volumes led to the board approving increased funding for retail promotions, according to CAC Vice President of Marketing Terry Splane, who spoke with FreshFruitPortal.com at IFPA’s Global Produce and Floral Show in Atlanta.

“We missed the forecast by quite a bit, but it was on the upside. And so, we had more fruit available, which led to more revenue, and our board was gracious enough to approve incremental funding,” Splane said. “We were able to drive longer promotions with our retailers supporting the fruit in increasing demand and increasing revenue at the retail level.”

This additional funding, the executive explained, is currently helping the commission get ahead of next year’s marketing strategies. He added that the 2025 campaign goes “right back to the roots” of the sector.

“While it's a challenge, in many ways, missing that forecast, there's a lot of benefits that came out of it in terms of how we look into next year and how we face next year,” he said.

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The CAC is anticipating 400 million pounds to be produced next year. This, Splane said, has moved up the timeline to make sure everything is in place to move the crop.

“Now we have the funding to get ahead of and work with handlers on who do we promote, how do we promote, how long do we promote,” he said. “We have an activation agency that works hand-in-hand with retailers, building their content, helping them. We're making it seamless for retailers to tell our message and our story to their consumers, which helps to bolster our image and our presence in the marketplace as well,” Splane said.

Despite the renewed approach, the executive said the upcoming campaign will continue to focus on what makes California avocados great: an ethically farmed, sustainable, and locally grown high-quality product. A message the CAC has “really good control of”.

“The results we're seeing on social and digital, and the consumer results are astounding. We do tip-ins or tag-ons with YouTube, and our read rate or completion rate on YouTube is 95%,” he shared. “That’s an indication that this content matters, it resonates, and consumers are interested. And that makes us feel very good about what we're doing and continuing down this path”.

The Global Avocado Summit, organized by the Chilean Avocado Committee and the Yentzen Group, will be held on November 21 at the Casino Monticello event center in Chile.