The Spanish avocado sector is committed to new technologies for optimum quality

On 16th December last, a technical conference on the FELIX INSTRUMENTS avocado quality meter was held in Torre del Mar, bringing together prestigious researchers and a large number of managers, quality and field technicians from the main avocado producing and exporting companies in the south of Spain. Malaga, and more specifically the Axarquia region, was the province chosen as it is home to the vast majority of this crop at national level, with almost 7,000 hectares of avocado producing more than 82,000 tonnes a year. The event, which was a considerable success, was a great opportunity to bring the latest technological advances to the industry and to build joint collaboration networks. The event, moderated by Claudia Conesa, editor of Poscosecha.com, was attended by Domingo Medina, Vice President of the Spanish Tropical Fruit Association and Technical Director of Agrotrapiche S.L., who explained the impact of avocado cultivation in the Axarquia region and the importance of quality in order to obtain a competitive product. Eric Muñoz, application scientist at Felix Instruments, explained the advantages of their portable avocado meter to determine the quality of the fruit in the field and in the warehouse. This was followed by a question and answer session and, finally, field demonstrations of the device at Finca El Jardín. Quality, a key factor in avocado crop yieldsAvocado cultivation is in vogue because of its good profitability for farmers due to the general increase in consumption. Furthermore, in Domingo's words: "In avocado cultivation, the Spanish farmer normally receives better prices than farmers in competing countries. This is basically due to the proximity to the destination market and because our product has always stood out for its quality and higher added value". This translates into an average Hass avocado price of 2.87 €/kg which has been growing season after season. However, this season, many of Spain's competitors, such as Israel and Colombia, have a larger production and are introducing a lot of fruit onto the European market, which is influencing a drop in prices this season. Domingo adds, "In fact, this fortnight, the average price for large sizes is practically no more than 2.50 €/kg, much worse prices than last year". "We have to take into account that there are more and more competitors. Israel this year is going to produce almost twice as much as last year. In Colombia, "bestial" plantations are being carried out and avocados are being introduced in November and December. It is also expected that in Portugal, Spain and Morocco, where weather conditions, production dates, varieties and the proximity of the market are very similar, more than 150 million kilos will be produced. We will need a very dynamic market to absorb all this production", Domingo explains. Faced with this new, much more competitive scenario, Domingo advises to continue investing in quality to continue to achieve good prices by implementing new techniques and technologies in the sector. This is the case of crop monitoring and remote sensing to optimise irrigation, the importance of correct tree nutrition and more careful harvesting and handling of the avocado to obtain quality avocados that can reach more and more destinations. "Another common question for growers is to know the optimum time to harvest and whether this should be done all at once or in several passes, I believe that equipment such as Felix Instruments can help us to make the best decision depending on the dry matter content and therefore the final quality of the product," Domingo concludes. Advantages of the Felix Instruments avocado quality meterThe Felix Instruments avocado quality meter, based on NIR technology, allows an almost instantaneous and non-destructive evaluation of the dry matter of the fruit, a value necessary to determine the optimal harvest time and define post-harvest quality. Used by the world's leading growers and marketers, the device increases the consistency of tests and reduces measurement time to just 8-10 seconds, unlike conventional methods based on the use of microwaves. The equipment, one of the biggest technological advances in the industry to date, comes equipped with the interactive Fruit Maps application, created by Felix Instruments and Central Queensland University, to map the crop and determine tree harvesting.   Eric Muñoz answered all the doubts of the users and insisted on the need for a correct calibration of the equipment prior to taking samples and updating the devices through the Felix Instruments website. In addition, he showed the avocado meter in action and the attendees were able to test the device and the Fruit Maps application at Finca el Jardín and check its effectiveness in determining the dry matter content of avocados. Finally, it was demonstrated that the Felix Intruments device allows to determine which fruits have reached the optimal dry matter content for harvesting and will therefore reach a good post-harvest quality.   Interesting information for the avocado sectorDue to the growing importance of avocados in Latin America and Spain, in 2020 we published the digital book "Cultivo, poscosecha y procesado del aguacate", a compendium of technical knowledge on the production, preservation and marketing of this crop in Spanish. The aim of this publication is to become a reference for producers, packers and marketers of this fruit who wish to increase the yields of their plantations or their supply chains. The book, which brings together 20 articles written by 33 researchers, specialists and technicians from different parts of the world, is divided into three main thematic blocks: 1) General overview, 2) Propagation and cultivation and 3) Post-harvest, industrialisation and marketing. It also has a foreword by Víctor Galán Saúco, Research Professor (retired) of the Canarian Institute of Agrarian Research (ICIA) and consultant in tropical fruit growing. On the other hand, registration is now open for the V Postharvest Technology Course, which we are organising together with the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica y del Medio Natural (ETSIAMN). It is a hybrid format course (classroom and online) that will take place from 27 January to 11 March 2022 at the UPV and consists of 40 classes, among which the following stand out: - Postharvest technology in avocado by Dr. Romina Pedreschi, Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso in Chile. - Postharvest technology in tropical crops (papaya, mangoes and others) by Dr. Gloria Lobo, researcher at ICIA.