Avocado Jo: Regenerative farming the key for this Cooperabung producer

In the five years since planting her avocado orchard, this American expat has seen it all — here’s how she stays green.

In the five years since Jo Houghton planted her “one woman” avocado orchard, she has faced drought, bushfire and flood.

“That’s no different to any other Australian farmer, it’s just that I’m newer to it,” said Jo in her Californian accent.

But unlike many other agricultural sectors, Jo – who farms according to regenerative practices – has seen radical price shifts.

“I don’t use pesticide and rarely use other synthetic inputs, instead focusing on compost, dynamic lifter and soft rock phosphate.

“So while fertiliser price has doubled, avocado prices have halved from a few years ago.

“It’s a corrective phase. Tens of thousands of trees have been planted across Australia, which I have been a part of, and so now I’m lucky to break even.”

While smashed avocados were once singled out as the reason why first home buyers couldn’t save a deposit, now the reversal in fortune is smashing growers.

“You don’t get into this farming to make lots of money. I’m doing it because I love it and want to show how to be a sustainable grower and supply the local market,” the 40-year-old said.

Jo Houghton of Avocado Jo, based at Cooperabung in NSW, with some of her Hass avocados.

Avocado Jo – as her brand name spruiks – has 750 Hass trees with 3ha under orchard on a 16ha property on NSW’s mid north coast, in Cooperabung near Port Macquarie.

The first 300 trees, which were planted in 2016 currently yield about 300 fruit per tree, while the second 400 trees – planted in 2019 – yield about 75 avocados per tree, with harvest from June to September.

Maximum production will be in years seven to 20, and is expected to reach 12 tonnes/ha to 20 tonnes/ha.

The property was previously an avocado orchard, with a small number of older trees remaining.

About a quarter of the crop is sold locally, in a 50km radius, both retail and wholesale, including restaurants, as well as farm-to-door home deliveries across Australia in 3.5kg or 5.5kg boxes, where customers buy through Jo’s website.

The remainder is sold to pack houses, such as Costa, with plans to increase local sales by ripening more fruit in a temperature-controlled farm coolroom, to supply to food services.

Some of the Hass avocado trees on Jo’s property.

Jo said she moved to the region in 2010 with her husband and two children from Sydney for the lifestyle, opting for farming because it harked back to her childhood.

She grew up in California where her dad ran a hobby organic vineyard, which grew to become a wine producer for the Bay area.

While Jo went on to have a background in finance, there was always a tug to farming.

“I was inspired by my dad’s work.”

After university she came on a six-week holiday to Australia in 2004 and has never left, meeting and marrying her husband, and then opting to run her own avocado farm on the family’s property.

“I don’t think anyone gets into anything knowing all about it. You have hopes and dreams. I knew it would be hard work.

“One of the biggest things I’ve learnt is how much is out of your control, especially the weather.”

Determined to farm with minimal synthetic inputs, Jo first set about preparing the soil, hiring agronomists for advice.

She soil tested and applied necessary trace elements.

She deep ripped and applied compost, dynamic lifter and soft rock phosphate, every six months continuing to apply compost, as well as woodchips (a by-product from the local timber industry) as mulch.

While neighbouring avocado orchards do not mound their plantings, Jo followed Avocado Australia advice at the time to create mounds 1m high – to guard against phytophthora root rot – as well as spacings for the three-year-old seedlings: 4.5m between each tree and 8m between each row.

Relying entirely on rainfall and a spring-fed dam, Jo also created a mini sprinkler irrigation system.

All the orchard preparation paid off when she was hit in succession by drought, fire and more recently flood.

“Just after I finished planting in 2019 it was incredibly dry and then we had bushfires here that started in mid-winter and burnt a long time, with the air quality so bad.

“It was a very difficult time but because all the residents banded together we didn’t lose any homes or orchards in the area.

“For a couple of weeks there was no power and I was very fortunate in that an electrician lent me a generator so I could get water to the trees.”

While there were a few tree losses, the orchard survived, thanks also to a heavy pruning of the top third of some trees.

“The woodchips really helped. Even in extreme heat they were still damp.”

The woodchips have also helped avoid disease pressures in the past year’s unprecedented rainfall, while Jo said adding additional compost has also helped.

Jo does not use pesticide and has occasionally sprayed copper, adding avocado conferences she has attended she has observed less acceptance of broad spectrum sprays due to bug resistance.

“I grew up in an area where sustainability was at the forefront of people’s minds.

“Quality is important and accountability of the product.

“I want to caretake the land as best as possible and I wouldn’t rule out becoming certified organic. I wish there was biological certification in between conventional and organic and more opportunity to demonstrate growers’ practices in the market around that principle.

“Sustainable farming will become increasingly essential as it’s not only preferred by our customers but it yields best-quality fruit.”

Aside from communicating to her customers through a website and social media, Jo runs farms tours, most recently hosting a local garden club and soon having local schoolchildren on-site, while harvest sees locals (“friends and friends of friends”) happy to hand-pick the crop in exchange for lunch.

“I love that connection to the community and feeling like I’m making a contribution and sharing, making farming an accessible experience.

“For me and for others, it can be very therapeutic being on a farm. It’s not instant gratification. It teaches patience and calm.”