Greensheets
A June 16 letter from San Diego County Agricultural Commissioner Bob Atkins, addressed to avocado growers, beekeepers, pesticide dealers, pest control businesses and the Avocado Commission, fully accepts a CAC-brokered agreement between local beekeepers, PCA's, applicators and growers. The Bee Protection Stakeholder Advisory to the San Diego County Agricultural Commissioner was catalyzed by CAC's engagement of a diverse group representing bee and avocado interests. The group met to come to an agreement and define a set of bee protection protocols needed during the application of bee hazardous thrips control materials to avocados during spring thrips control treatments.
In his correspondence, the San Diego Ag Commissioner states: "Effective immediately, we will honor the (Stakeholder Advisory) agreement and accept it for label enforcement purposes." This is a testament to the dedicated and effective leadership put forth by your CAC staff. Not only in providing a solid written evaluation of the scientific literature on bees and their relationships with avocado bloom, but also in pulling together the right mix of stakeholders, nominating Chair, Jim Davis, as well as facilitating the meetings and assisting in the writing of the "Bee Protection Practices Agreement." All told, the Department of Pesticide Regulation has recognized the effort as a prime example of local resolution to a difficult issue.
Atkins' June 16 letter to industry culminates months of CAC-brokered behind the scenes discussions between county agriculture department officials, senior administrators and scientists in the Department of Pesticide Regulation and Cal-EPA, and registrants of bee hazardous thrips treatment materials.
Click below for relevant documents (Note: Adobe PDF Reader required):
Research Summary
Bee Protection Agreement for Avocados
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The Rainbow Municipal Water District is considering a change to one of its existing Ordinances (Ordinance No. 95-1) that could benefit growers in their service area. New Ordinance 09-09 amends Ordinance 95-1 to allow Rainbow to take advantage of loan or grant programs sponsored by the State of California, the federal government, or other, similar entities. In July, the County Registrar of Voters will be mailing a ballot in the District asking you to vote on amendments to Ordinance 95-1. The Rainbow Board of Directors believes approval of this measure (a "yes" vote) will help minimize future water rate increases. For your reference, the New Ordinance 09-09 is available here, along with Rainbow's June 2009 newsletter here, which provides more information on this subject. If you have any questions, contact RMWD.
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As part of its Summer Entertaining Promotion, CAC developed a Summer Entertaining recipe brochure with holder for display at retail with the Hand Grown in California themed display bins, shelf signage and point-of-sale cards.
New Summer Entertaining Brochure
featuring $0.55 off coupon
The new brochures add value by providing California Avocado nutrition messaging, tips and recipes at the point of purchase.
Ralphs, Vons/Safeway, Save Mart, Stater Bros., Fry's, Food Maxx, Raley's — Nob Hill/Bel-Air, Mollie Stones and Andronico's as well as other retailers have been or will be featuring Hand Grown in California signage and Summer Entertaining brochures from Memorial Day through the end of the season.
See below for some in-store photos of the brochures:
Hand Grown in California Display Bin featured with
New Summer Entertaining Brochure and holder. Also featured
is the Jaime Serrato Grower Point-of-Sale card
California Avocados on display with
Summer Entertaining Brochure and holder
California Avocados featured with the CAC Display Bin
and Summer Entertaining Brochure and holder
California Avocados featured with the
Summer Entertaining Brochure and holder
For more details on CAC's Summer Entertaining promotion, visit the Greensheet archive and check out the 5/14 edition for an overview of the program.
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With the 2009 avocado crop season in full swing, there has been a sharp rise in avocado-related theft in various California orchards. To aid growers in preventing the theft of their fruit, the California Avocado Commission has made available bi-lingual avocado theft posters which detail the charges and punishments associated for the crime of avocado theft.
These laminable posters are meant to be displayed in highly visible areas in efforts to curtail theft attempts.
To download the Avocado Theft Prevention and Policy Posters, please click here.
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As California Avocados enter their peak season, several avocado-centric promotions are in full swing in key onsite and restaurant chain accounts.
The onsite dining segment of the foodservice industry, which includes hospitals, corporate cafeterias and other institutions, is an important target for increasing consumption of California Avocados. Compass USA, one of the largest foodservice management companies with 4,000 onsite dining units nationwide, is celebrating the six chef-winners of the recent CAC-Compass recipe contest by promoting their Fresh California Avocado creations—plus 8 more CAC recipes—system-wide.
The grand prize-winning Avocado Trio appetizer.
A long-time California Avocado promotion partner, Sodexo features five new Fresh California Avocado items for the month of June, including a Thai Shrimp and Avocado Salad.
In the high volume, quick service arena, Baja Fresh is offering "Catch Three" in May and June, with two out of three featured tacos sporting a slice of Fresh California Avocado, a premium statement for that segment.
Ruby's Diner is "Cruisin' into Summer" with a special Baja Burger, a three-month promotion that begins in June. The burger is topped with 6 slices of Fresh California Avocado and is tied to a Beach Cruiser Bike give-away.
In late May, BJ's Restaurants introduced a new menu, adding a thin-crusted California Club Pizza with Fresh California Avocados to their new flatbread appetizer pizzas.
Chevys knows that salads rule in warm weather, exploring the opportunity with two new Fresh California Avocado-studded salads: BBQ Chicken Salad with fresh guacamole and Crisp Summer Salmon Salad with diced Fresh California Avocado.
Stop in at any of the above chains and enjoy some of the new California Avocado inspired items to support our restaurant partners! Back to Top
Based on actual totals and growth variances during a 13-week period ending 4/26/09 versus the same time frame from the prior year, avocados are showing a 13 percent gain in dollar sales and a 25 percent gain in volume.*
Avocados are the #7 selling item in terms of total dollars in the Fruit category, and are the #8 selling item in total volume (pounds).*
*Source: IRI/FreshLook
CAC participated in the Unified Grocers (UG) trade show in Long Beach on 6/3 and 6/4, showcasing the Hand Grown in California themed retail support materials to UG customers.
UG, a full line supplier/grocery and produce provider for several hundred independent grocers and select chain supermarkets, has distribution centers up and down the West Coast - which align with CAC's core avocado markets.
The show provides an opportunity for CAC to reach key independent supermarkets and their key decision makers to promote the Hand Grown in California campaign with in-store merchandising opportunities to increase California Avocado sales.
Several thousand attendees from throughout the Western United States attended the 2-day show.
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Grower Seminars:
Tuesday, August 11th 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Cooperative Extension County Office / Auditorium 2156 Sierra Way, San Luis Obispo
Wednesday, August 12th 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Cooperative Extension County Office / Conference Room 669 County Square Dr., Ventura
Thursday, August 13th 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
South Coast Winery Resort 34843 Rancho California Rd., Temecula
TOPICS:
Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs) - Dr. Carol Lovatt, UCR Department of Botany & Plant Sciences, will update growers with the latest information on PGR's to increase yield and size.
Naphthaleneacetic Acid (NAA) for Increased Productivity in the Near Future
Dr. Mary Lu Arpaia, UCR, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, will provide the latest research information conducted on the use of NAA to control vegetative vigor in avocado trees. Dr. Arpaia will speak on NAA research and field trials since the beginning of the tree-structuring and growth-control project.
Dave Holden of Holden Research & Consulting will present his CAC work on NAA and vegetative re-growth at the Ventura seminar; Farm Advisors Mary Bianchi and Ben Faber will present in SLO; and Gary Bender in Temecula, to discuss the establishment of demonstration plots across the industry.
Dr. Guy Witney with the Commission will provide an update on the label.
Q & A session to follow.
4th Australian and New Zealand Avocado Growers Conference
July 21-24, 2009 Cairns Convention Centre - Cairns, Queensland, Australia
For Further information, contact the conference managers: info@anzagc.org Phone: +61 7 3858 5528 Fax: +61 7 3858 5499 Online: www.anzagc.org
Price by Size
4-Week Inventory and Shipment Volume
For Additional U.S. Market Reports Visit avoHQ.com
Avocado Volume Summary
Weekly Projected Hass Volume (Domestic and Imported) and Actual Total Weekly Hass Volume
By Fox Weather
Troughing will occur in most of central and northern California during June 28th - 7 July. A ridge over southern California on June 25-27th will continue through most of the period July 1-5th, then a trough will be over central and southern California on July 5-8th. Unseasonably mild or cool in central and northern California during 28th through 7th, as longwave troughing persists in the Pacific Northwest and above normal rainfall occurs in the Pacific Northwest states. Southern California will stay mostly dry and trending warmer than normal during June 25th through July 5th. Thunderstorms activity will be mainly over southeast and eastern Arizona with southern California and west Arizona staying drier than normal.
July 7-22: A moderate El Niño pattern will continue to develop during this period, with unusually warm sea surface occurring in the equatorial pacific from Peru and chile west along the equator to Indonesia by mid summer. Effects on the large scale circulation in the central and eastern northern pacific and the USA are much less than during the winter and spring months. However, this pattern may cause more upper lows to develop near Baja, and force a warmer than normal sea surface along the central and northern California coast. This conflicts somewhat with the unusually active storm track in the northern pacific to the northwestern USA that we have seen the first part of this summer (as mentioned in our outlooks during the mid to late spring. Bottom line...we look for warmer than normal conditions during mid to late July in central and southern California, and higher humidity, and some warmer nighttime temperatures than normal in these regions, due to the warmer sea surface. SSTAs in the tropical cyclone formation area off southwest Mexico will be above normal, and this will provide energy for tropical cyclones that develop off Mexico. Sea surface temperatures are now more favorable for tropical cyclone activity near and southwest of southern Baja as we enter the main part of the hurricane season in July.
To subscribe to fox weather for additional detailed seasonal and El Niño updates log onto Fox Weather at http://www.foxweather.com
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