THE OLD PARADIGM

The 60s & 70s was a boom-time for the California Avocado Industry. Many acres of avocados were planted in San Diego, Ventura & Santa Barbara Counties; I refer to this period as the “avocadoization” of California.

Avocado growers were completely, 100% protected from foreign imports. The cost of labor, land, water & materials was less expensive. So the profit margins were relatively high.

This led to a culture of what I call absentee avocado farmers. People with discretionary money but little or no agriculture experience would invest in the development of avocado ranches. Sufficient moneys would be appropriated for overall ranch development. But, once the trees started producing, the owners would expect the ranch to make and not cost money, thus scant resources would be put into ongoing orchard care.

In many cases, the planting pattern would be too broadly spaced and trees allowed to grow 40’ plus tall. Such practices would decrease development and orchard care burdens, albeit with the penalty of a lower per/acre orchard production and greatly increased harvest costs; the lowest hanging fruit might be 20’ off the ground.
And the absentee farmer would often underappreciate the importance of irrigation. Avocados & citrus trees, which have completely different water demands, would often be planted within similar irrigation blocks. Citrus has a deep tap-root and benefits from less frequent 24 hour watering durations. Conversely, an avocado is shallow rooted and prefers more frequent & shorter irrigations. So what does an absentee farmer, who can’t water the avocado & citrus trees separately and who wants the ranch to make & not cost money do? He/she assigns irrigation duties to the lowest paid employee, with instructions to water everything for 24 hour durations weekly, regardless of the weather or time of year. In reality, soil conditions, tree-types and tree ages vary widely within a single ranch and long-term maximum orchard performance requires the attention of a skilled & experienced irrigator. But, when treating an avocado & citrus orchard as an investment rather than a lifestyle, putting more effort into initial orchard planning and allocating resources to the training of an effective irrigation staff might seem extraneous.

INTENSIVE FARMING PRACTICES

As time slipped into the 80s & 90s, foreign avocado imports from Chile & Mexico began to be allowed, increasing supply and lowering crop values. Urban pressures incrementally upped land & water costs. And fuel & farming materials prices continued to rise. By the early 2000s profit margins enjoyed in the 60s & 70s had noticeably waned. And the inefficiencies of undermanagement, typical of absentee farming operations, began to make them unviable. The only remedy for the rising cost of doing business was to increase avocado per-acre productivity; and, thus, the age of intensive avocado farming began.

Intensive avocado farming operations began in Chile. Instead of the traditional 100 trees per acre, 300-500 per acre would be planted. And instead of the trees being allowed to grow tall & unchecked, they would be pruned once or twice annually and kept short; this prevented the trees from shading each other, led to flowering & fruit-set lower on the trees and made harvesting easier. All trees would be planted on berms so as to allow for better root-zone drainage. And to mitigate the alternate bearing tendencies of the Hass variety, a cultural practice called girdling would be applied every early spring; this involved the bark-thick, saw-wide incision of a selected tree branchs’ circumference, in order to stimulate flowering.

And, of course, irrigation & fertilization were taken very seriously. Watering was done frequently and in short durations, irrigation blocks were set up so as to not mix trees with different water needs and the overall irrigation system was designed to be flexible and capable of meeting changing weather & tree circumstances. And soil & leaf samples were sent to labs every spring & fall and fertilizer applications were tailored to the results.

BROKAW STYLE

Transitioning a ranch to accommodate intensive farming techniques is no small consideration as the trees will have to be removed, the irrigation system reconfigured, berms made and the orchard replanted. Current staff members will have to trained and increased & ongoing tree-care will be required.

Brokaw Ranch Company planted their first 2 acres of Chilean style avocado orchard in 2006. And it didn’t take long for the production numbers to prove that the extra initial and ongoing expenses would pencil out in increased productivity. In response, we started removing the least productive blocks and replanting them to the Chilean configuration in 2008 and made long term plans to do a few blocks each year, until the whole ranch was so configured. A handful of other California avocado farmers have also adopted intensive farming techniques but not all of them, as doing so is a big commitment & not for the weary.

For Brokaw Ranch Company intensive farming practices reflect how we’ve always liked to operate. Since originally starting the nursery in the 50s, Hank & Ellen Brokaw have always been innovators and problem solvers, nurtured skilled & valuable staff members and doubled down on resource & time investment. And, since their approach to ranch development & management was no different, the transition to Chilean avocado growing techniques came naturally. All of us actually like being able to work with smart, skilled and dedicated staff members. And we enjoy operating an apparatus that requires ongoing attention, problem solving, planning and overall respect.

Our commitment to intensive farming practices defines us as a family farm as it isn’t amenable to any kind of automation. In order to most effectively nurture an orchard, it can’t be managed block by block but rather tree by tree. When one of our irrigators sees a stunted or sick tree within a block, he/she takes note of it and endeavors to rehabilitate it over the next few months. This type of “good micromanagement” is why our orchard blocks render a solid healthy & green color when seen from afar. This doesn’t happen by accident and, were our orchard run on an industrial scale with automation and a less skilled staff, such an approach to tree care would never take place.
And, as a conventional farm, intensive farming techniques define us as sustainable, since the increased productivity allows us to produce our avocados with a minimum of land, water & fertilizer inputs per pound harvested.

Lastly, intensive farming, “good micromanagement”, the resulting increased tree-health and active harvest management allow us to produce a superb & unmatched fruit quality and to fast-track it to Farmers’ Market retail, direct restaurant and distributor clients. We produce & purvey a premium product which our clients notice & appreciate. Thank you so much for supporting our family & staff-members and for allowing our preferred farming methods to pencil out!