Publication
from Edible South Florida
The Case for Florida Avocados
Photography By Alfredo Añez, September 06, 2020
Think
the small, dark, nubby-skinned Hass avocado is the only way to go?
Welcome to the world of creamy, versatile, green-skin tropical avocados.
Florida avocados
“Step
outside of the Hass and your comfort zone,” says Charles LaPradd,
Miami-Dade agricultural manager. “Florida avocados aren’t boring.
There’s a whole palette of different flavors and textures.” And they’re
a healthy choice, lower in calories and fat.
Florida’s
history with avocado is long and interesting, says Dr. Jonathan Crane
of the UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC) in
Homestead. Since pre-Columbian times, avocados have been cultivated in
tropical America. In Florida, the first recorded introduction was in
1833. “But when settlers came to South Florida in the mid-1800s, they
found avocados growing, probably introduced by indigenous people from
the Caribbean,” he says. “It’s been here a long time.”
Photo
1: Leaflet from Florida Avocado Growers Exchange, circa 1930; “It’s the
Flavor” and “The Avocado is Not a Luxury” from the Isabelle Krome
papers at the Historic Homestead Town Hall Museum
Photo 2: Leaflet
from Florida Avocado Growers Exchange, circa 1930; “It’s the Flavor”
and “The Avocado is Not a Luxury” from the Isabelle Krome papers at the
Historic Homestead Town Hall Museum
Avocados in South Miami-Dade
More
than 100 years ago, plant experts in South Florida were already
grafting avocados at the USDA Miami plant introduction garden on six
acres near Brickell. Growers planted seeds from Central America, let
the trees flower and cross, then gave the seeds to growers – “very
forward-looking,” says Crane. In Reminiscences of Early Plant
Introduction in South Florida, plant explorer Dr. David Fairchild
mentioned the 30 different varieties of avocado in boxes in the
slathouse in 1912, 11 years after George Cellon first budded the Trapp
avocado and put it on the market. He writes: “I look back to those
early days of the great avocado industry with pleasure for they were
days of excitement and surprise, and while we may not have appreciated
quite fully the importance of the events taking place around us, for no
young people do, we certainly were active in our search for avocados
that would do well here.”
Two other familiar names – Charles
Deering and William Krome – are linked to cultivating avocados a
century ago in the South Miami-Dade agricultural district. At the
Deering Estate at Cutler, Charles Deering planted avocados and mangos,
still there today, to create a self-sufficient homestead. An article in
The Miami News, Mar. 25, 1922, proclaims “Avocadoes an Annual ‘Emerald’
Mine – Money Makers on the Charles Deering Estate.”
The story
described a visit to the estate: “Here is a grove of about 3,500
Avocadoes, planted in 1906, and when we asked for the average bearing
capacity of thrifty Avocado trees, Mr. Morrison, after talking with his
foreman, estimated that it would be safe to count on from 600 to 700
‘pears’ per tree annually. These would ordinarily pack from 36 to 46 to
the crate or box. Computing the smallest size of 46, and the minimum
quantity of 600 per tree, and we have 13 crates to the tree. Now the
market price ranges anywhere from $3 for small inferior pears up to $45
per crate for fancies. It is no unusual thing for them to bring from $8
to $15 per crate but supposing we figure these at the low price of $5
per crate. Even at this figure, we have an income of $65 per tree. Then
100 trees to the acre means an income of $6,500 annually.” That’s about
$97,000 today.
Photo 1: From 1925 booklet published by Redland District Chamber of Commerce
Photo 2: Women packing avocados in the Lucerne Packing House, Homestead. From the Florida Department of Commerce collection
William
Krome, the namesake of the western thoroughfare from Kendall to
Homestead, was the chief engineer of Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast
Railway and a pioneer avocado farmer. He and his wife, who maintained
the family’s citrus groves, were friends with David Fairchild and
fellow plant explorer Wilson Popenoe. His son, Bill, helped develop
standards for the best picking time for avocados. Today, his daughter,
Medora Krome, maintains the family groves.
Building a Market
Florida
avocado growers also looked to varieties that would lengthen the
growing season in order to gain a competitive edge. “Until 1961, Cuba
was allowed to export to the mainland, so locals looked for
later-season avocados,” says Crane. “They found natural hybrids and
made the U.S. extend its season into January.” Today, avocado
production in South Florida is nearly year-round, with fruit from June
to as late as April. Florida growers also established picking schedules
in the 1950s to maintain the quality of fruit. Avocados must meet the
legal size for picking. If they’re picked too soon, they won’t ripen
properly.
When the Cuban embargo occurred, South Florida avocado
growing took off, reaching about 9,000 acres at its peak in 1986-87.
Over the next two decades, freezes, flooding and hurricanes took their
toll, reducing the acreage. By 2008-9, the numbers were back on the
increase. Then deadly laurel wilt arrived.
The disease, a fungus
spread by ambrosia beetles, was first detected in the U.S. in 2002 when
infested pallets arrived at Port Wentworth, Georgia. It attacks healthy
trees in the laurel family, including avocado, and native trees redbay
and swampbay. “It’s killed half a billion trees in the southeastern
U.S.,” Crane says. “It’s an environmental tragedy.”
Laurel wilt
attacks the trees via the tiny beetles, who are fungus farmers, causing
the tree to turn on its defense mechanism. Symptoms include wilting
leaves and stems, dead leaves hanging on the tree and dried sap, a
white powder-like material. “The disease spreads through the tree and
moves to the adjacent tree,” says Crane.
Many trees die from
laurel wilt, but some recover. Researchers are looking for resistant
varieties while they work on finding a solution. Growers can use a
fungicide to prevent laurel wilt, but it’s labor-intensive and
expensive. Another solution is scouting trees for symptoms like wilted
leaves, then immediately uprooting the tree and destroying it before
the disease spreads. Replanting does work for some growers. Keeping
trees pruned also helps, says Crane. “The beetles are attracted to big
trees.” Meanwhile, UF/IFAS scientists at TREC and throughout the state
are working on pest management practices to protect the commercial crop
industry, valued at $100 million a year.
Local Avocado Growers
Despite
laurel wilt, South Florida packing houses, including Unity Groves,
Brooks Tropicals and New Limeco, report a solid market for Florida
avocados. For New Limeco, who are growers and packers, that means Latin
restaurants and mom-and-pops in New York, Chicago and Philly, says
Eddie Caram. Florida avocados are finding new customers among the
health-conscious customers, too. “It’s healthier than butter,” he says.
At
Unity Groves, where avocado is their main product, Louie Carricarte
says the green-skin avocados give consumers more bang for their buck
because they’re three times as big as their Mexican or California
counterparts. Florida avocados are now reaching new customers in
produce boxes being sold to consumers or given away through food
distributions in the wake of the pandemic.
The Florida avocado
industry is showing its resilience. “It’s going to survive, even
expand,” says Jonathan Crane. “Florida grows many different varieties.
The industry keeps coming back.”
Redland District Chamber of Commerce logo
The Famous Avocado
The Krome Family
Among
the Historic Homestead Town Hall Museum’s collections showcasing the
Redland agricultural district are the papers of Isabelle Krome of the
pioneer Krome family, including the avocado advertising leaflets on
page 24, circa 1930. The museum also features the old Redland District
Chamber of Commerce logo, above, and other memorabilia from the Redland
ag district.
“Even if the Redland District did not posses so
many other desirable features, it could justly claim preeminence on its
avocado industry alone. This wonderful fruit, which has been pronounced
by physicians, horticultural experts, and the United States Bureau of
Agriculture as the most perfectly balanced food-fruit in existence, is
grown to absolute perfection in the Redland District, whose soils,
climate, length of growing season, economy of production, quality and
varieties of fruit grown, all conspire to make the Redland District
easily first in the very limited avocado-growing sections of the United
States.”
From Redland District of Florida booklet, published by
the Redland District Chamber of Commerce, 1925. Used with permission
from the South Dade Chamber of Commerce.
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