Avocado Advice with Erica Faber Just Avocados

Just Avocados, at their recent season review meetings, announced a new export payment pool structure for their growers. The specialist avocado packer and exporter has introduced an early season pool, a late season pool and a consignment (shipment-by-shipment) option.

“Our new split pool and consignment options give Just Avocados growers even greater flexibility and the freedom to decide how they want their orchard business to run,” says Just Avocados’ supply and logistics manager Jarrod Redwood.

Jarrod says that growers have diverse goals when it comes to what they want to achieve on their orchards and the new pool model has been designed to work with this.

“We’ve spent a lot of time understanding what drives our growers and while most are after the best export return, others look at the total crop income; then there are others who are also mindful of supporting orchard health and encouraging return crop.”
Just Avocados has moved away from a traditional season-long pool model to align with their earlier harvest strategy and to provide growers with a model where they can decide which pool and option suits them best.

“Growers can place fruit in either one of the pools or both pools based on your personal goals and harvest strategy.

“You can place fruit on a shipment-by-shipment basis and put the remaining fruit in either pool but not in the same harvest period – for example, early harvest on consignment and late fruit in the late pool or alternatively early pool and late harvest on consignment.

Just Avocados is the only exporter offering split pools and a consignment option, says Jarrod.

“Feedback we’ve received has so far been positive, growers are liking the ability to decide when they want to pick their fruit and how they would like that transacted.”

The long-term strategy to move to earlier harvest is a focus that’s been driven by high values in Asia and fruit quality issues in Australia.

Just Avocados plans to place 50 per cent of export volume into Australia and 50 per cent into Asia during the 2019-2020 season – this is an increase from the 30 per cent placed into Asia for the 2018-2019 season.

“The new pool and consignment options align with our strategy of placing larger and earlier volumes into Asia, reducing the need for holding fruit late for Australia at a time when fruit quality is deteriorating, fruit drop occurs and export pack outs decline,” says Jarrod.

“There is also the important factor of reducing the stress on your trees that occurs when holding significant volumes of crop.”

The exporter believes there is greater value for growers to achieve through the new pool model. “The new options will benefit growers with improved cashflow as the early pool will finalise early-2020.

“Late pools will be reflective of late season values, therefore providing total value upside for growers who wish to hold fruit for the late value markets.”

Growers interested in seeing how the new model might benefit them are invited to contact the Just Avocados team.