Program offers 'ray of hope' for lagging avocado industry

A program aimed at softening the blow of costly irrigation system upgrades may bring relief for local avocado growers who are struggling to survive unrelenting surges in their water bills.

“It’s been very, very challenging to address these water issues,” Tom Bellamore, president of California Avocado Commission, told a group of growers at a May 17 workshop held in Fallbrook. “This may provide some ray of hope.”

The gathering attracted about 100 growers, grove managers, association officials and other participants to the forum that focused on a cost-sharing program launched by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

The avocado industry, according to several workshop participants, is at a crucial juncture. The commission and local growers are fighting for survival, they said.

“People ask me that question all the time,” said Charlie Wolk, a large-scale grower who has logged two stints on the Fallbrook Public Utilities District that together total about 20 years. “The answer is the avocado industry is alive and well if you’re farming correctly. If you’re not, you’re going broke.”

Wolk, who spoke briefly to the audience, said he had waited until the forum to chart his foray into the use of high tech equipment that determines precisely when to parse increasingly costly water to thirsty trees.

Wolk said there is no doubt that he will follow the trend that could mean the difference between sinking or staying afloat. Water bills represent 75 percent of his total production costs, he noted.

“It’s not probably. I will,” said Wolk, who has grown avocados for the past 40 years. He made the rounds among the eight equipment vendors that set up information booths at the event.

The vendors had taken advantage of the chance to pitch their products at the heart of a sprawling region that produces the most avocados in the nation.

Blessed by a climate in which temperatures rarely dip below freezing, the region takes in De Luz, Fallbrook, Rainbow, Bonsall, Valley Center and the Pala and Pauma valleys. Vast hillsides throughout the region are blanketed by the distinctive leafy trees.

The equipment, which can cost $10,000 or more depending on the size of the grove, covered a range of technologies that focus on irrigation efficiency, field management and water treatment and chemistry.

One firm dubs its representatives “water doctors.” Another company calls its system the AquaSpy. Some of the gear is mounted on metal columns that connect to the internet and are equipped with solar panels, wind gauges and other devices.

Metropolitan has launched a program that will pay half the cost to install such equipment in groves and other farming operations. The sprawling district provides wholesale water to about 19 million people over a 5,200-square-mile area that includes Riverside, San Diego and four other counties.

The “pay for performance” program will also rebate some of its users’ annual water costs for a period of 10 years. The goal is to create a mindset in which reducing water use is an everyday process rather than a drought-fueled crisis, said Brandon J. Goshi, Metropolitan’s manager of water policy and strategy.

Metropolitan expects to have sufficient revenues available to fund the program for two years or more, said Gary Tilkian, who oversees a Metropolitan regional supply unit. It could be extended beyond that if sufficient funds are available, he said.

At least 12 growers from northern San Diego and southwest Riverside County are among the 100 or so applicants who have been processed so far, Tilkian said. Another 80 applications are still in the review stage, he said.

Tim Spann, the commission’s research program director, said a Valley Center grower has already reduced his water use by 50 percent or

more using the cutting-edge soil sensors and other technology. “The trees are doing better,” Spann said of the 42-acre grove. “They’re really responding and they’re using less water. He’s basically cut his irrigation in half.”

Commission and Metropolitan officials were pleased with the participation at the workshop, which was held at the Grand Tradition Estate & Gardens.

Bellamore offered a candid appraisal of the state of the industry after the presentations had ended and the event was winding down. The double whammy of drought conditions and development pressures has squeezed growers in this region and throughout the state, he said.

“It almost goes grove by grove,” he said, noting that growers who can tap wells have a much higher survival rate. “It’s been going down,” Bellamore said. “It’s tougher and tougher to stay in business.”

He said the commission is currently comprised of nearly 4,000 growers statewide. That reflects a drop of about 15 percent over the past five years, he said. The commission collects 2.3 percent of the gross product value of all commercial growers. In exchange, the organization markets the fruit, performs research and holds seminars, conferences and workshops.

The industry decline is also evident on the local level. San Diego and Riverside counties generally rank among the top 15 in the state according to their total value of agricultural production.

Avocados were the fourth leading crop in terms of production value – $154 million at the last annual tally – in San Diego County. The fruit is the 10th most valuable crop in Riverside County at $35.3 million, according to the most recent report.

Yet both counties show dramatic declines in the number of acres planted. San Diego County growers devoted 24,684 acres to avocado trees in 2009. That figure had dropped to 18,439 acres by 2014, the last year county crop reports are available.

Riverside County growers planted 7,733 acres in avocados in 2009. That figure had dropped to 6,078 acres by 2014, according to that county’s annual crop report.