Avocado farmers plea for shoppers to buy after high oversupply

As cost of living pressures hit home, Aussie farmers are pleading for shoppers to eat more smashed avocado which is finally cheaper. See why and the latest prices.

A smashed avo on toast is longer to blame for Millennials struggling to purchase a home as the prices for the fruit plummet to as low as $1 each and oversupply hits new highs.

The supply for avocados has now outstripped demand across the country after growers planted hundreds of new trees within the past decade to satiate the once high demand.

However, that’s left over 800 farmers with a surplus of the popular fruit and struggling to make a profit - an issue expected to stay for at least a year.

It has prompted Avocados Australia chief executive John Tyas to issue a plea for Aussies to eat more of the fruit while it is cheap.

He said the industry was going through “growing pains” as they desperately try and lift the domestic and international intake of the fruit.

Avocados Australia chief executive John Tyas has put a callout to Austrlaians to help avocado farmers.

“Over the last 12 months we have seen a situation where supply really has exceeded demand domestically,” he said.

“We’ve increased our exports but we really need access to new large export markets and that’s taken a bit longer than we had hoped as it’s reliant on government negotiations and that’s just been slow.

“So we are in a situation with too many avocados for the mouths in Australia and that’s why we are seeing prices at the levels they are now.”

In 2016, demographer Bernard Salt made international headlines after he said “the evils of hipster cafes” were contributing to the woes of young people struggling to buy a first home.

Smashed avocado on toast has been a popular staple with Aussies. Picture: iStock.

But his tongue-in-cheek take wasn’t well received by many — especially the younger generation he took aim at.

“I have seen young people order smashed avocado with crumbed feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 a pop and more,” he wrote.

However, despite the great debate, Mr Tyas said Australia’s love for avocados only stayed high. On average Australians ate around 4 kilograms of avocado per person in 2021.

Prices for Hass avocados at Coles, Woolworths and Aldi range from $1.20 to $1.40.

And while almost 80 per cent of households ate the fruit, there was still room to grow.

“It’s been a perfect storm for farmers. We’ve seen increases in input costs, fertiliser fuel and access to labour has been particularly challenging and they’ve been really struggling,” Mr Tyas said.

“They can weather the storm for a period, but when the price gets down around that dollar a piece, it’s simply not sustainable.

“That’s why we‘re desperately trying to open new export markets particularly in Asia, but also, we think there’s a lot of room for increased consumption domestically as well.”

Originally published as Avocado farmers plea for shoppers to buy after high oversupply