Welcome to the February edition of the Just Avocados newsletter.
With the 2018/19 export season now complete, focus has well and truly shifted to planning for the season ahead. From a volume perspective, all signs indicate that we are looking at an improved season. As mentioned in the last newsletter, all-market access is the key to managing any sized crop – as proven by this past
season.
Things you should now be thinking about are:
• Have you signed the China and Thailand register?
• Is your spray programme conducive to allow all-market access?
• Do you understand the chemical withholding periods?
If you are unsure about any of the above, please speak to either Kyra or John for assistance.
Crop estimation will once again be critical to extracting the best returns out of the market, and it is pleasing to note that the Just Avocados 2018/19 crop estimate vs actual trays exported was an improvement from the 2017/18 season. However, we still have room for improvement – and this will be a focus for your grower services team.
I will once again remind you that understanding your individual drivers and orchard goals are the key to us delivering value, so take some time to think about what you want to achieve this season and how we can assist – whether it’s orchard health, harvest plans and timing, current crop loading and future production or technical support. We have worked hard on providing a model that provides flexibility, and the detail in the planning is how we can achieve this. We will be meeting with you all over the next couple of months to discuss this.
In this newsletter, Jacob provides a high level 2018/19 marketing overview, John covers pruning and information on fruit staining and Erica explains the fruit set conundrum and potential factors that influence fruit set. Kyra’s first newsletter contribution gives you an update as to what she has been up to and Helen covers off the ever-increasing demands of compliance – don’t forget that when it comes to compliance we have an experienced team who can assist with all facets.
For those of you who attended the field days, I hope that you had a great time and got real value out of these days – please feel free to pass on any
feedback you have.
Soon we will advise the dates for our end of season meetings and I look forward to catching up with you all.
Regards,
Jarrod