In a preliminary estimate, Ventura County agriculture commissioner Henry Gonzalez said two-thirds of the 10,000 acres of county farmland burned by the Thomas fire are avocado groves, reported The Packer, a trade publication. The wildfire has yet to be contained “so even the growers don’t know what the effects are going to be,” he said.
Ventura County, on the Pacific Coast between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, has 18,500 acres of avocado groves. Gonzalez said some growers believe 15 percent of the 2017/18 crop has been lost to the fire. A California Avocado Commission official said the degree of damage varied among the groves, so it was difficult to estimate likely losses. Gonzalez said it could take a year or more to fully account for the impact of the fire. “Some trees that seem like they are fine are probably going to die, and others that seem shaky will pull through,” he said.
California grows 85 percent of the U.S. avocado crop, but Mexico accounts for 80 percent, or nearly 2 billion pounds, of the U.S. supply, says the USDA. Americans consume an average of 7.1 pounds of avocados annually, double the amount of a decade ago.