Applications Open for 2027 Nuffield Scholarships

Applications are now open for the 2027 Nuffield Scholarships, offering avocado growers and others working in agriculture a valuable opportunity to develop their leadership skills while exploring innovative ideas to strengthen the future of the industry.

Supported by Hort Innovation across a range of sectors — including avocado — the scholarships enable participants to undertake self-directed research on a topic relevant to Australian agriculture. Scholars complete approximately 15 weeks of international travel, connecting with global farmers, researchers and industry leaders to gain new perspectives and bring practical insights back to their businesses and the broader industry.

Recognised as a premier leadership development program within Australian agriculture, the Nuffield Scholarship helps build confidence, strategic thinking and industry networks, equipping participants to contribute to innovation, resilience and long-term growth across the sector.

Applications close Friday, 8 May 2026, with successful recipients to be announced at the Nuffield Australia National Conference in Darwin in September 2026.

👉 For more information and to apply, visit nuffield.com.au/how-to-apply

This article appears as part of the 27 February 2026 issue of Guacamole, our e-Newsletter.

Avocado IPM Benchmarking Workshop Announced for Tamborine and Northern Rivers Region

Avocado growers and advisors in the Tamborine and Northern Rivers region are invited to attend an upcoming Avocado IPM Benchmarking Workshop hosted by the CSIRO Pest READI team, bringing together leading Integrated Pest Management (IPM) experts for a practical, hands-on learning opportunity.

The half-day workshop will feature specialists from Queensland DPI and NSW DPIRD, focusing on current pest management challenges in avocado production and providing participants with practical insights they can apply directly in their orchards. Attendees will also have the opportunity to share experiences, ask questions, and connect with industry experts and fellow growers.

Participants will receive a first look at the new free digital IPM Benchmarking Tool available through Hort360, with the opportunity to trial the tool and generate farm-level insights. The workshop will also include guidance on identifying opportunities to improve IPM practices, reduce pest management costs, and an orchard walk with IPM experts and the Pest READI team.

Workshop Details
🗓️ Friday 13 March
⏰ 9:00am – 1:00pm
📍 Wollongbar DPIRD Research Station, 1243 Bruxner Hwy, Wollongbar (followed by orchard walk in Alstonville)

Catering will be provided, and growers are encouraged to bring a tablet or laptop if possible.

RSVP
Register via the Workshop Registration Form ✅ or email pestreadi@csiro.au to secure your place!

This article appears as part of the 27 February 2026 issue of Guacamole, our e-Newsletter.

Extension Events Coming Soon!

The AV23010 extension project team continues to roll out practical learning opportunities for growers across the country, with a strong focus on fruit robustness, nutrition, and yield consistency. As part of their ongoing commitment to delivering regionally relevant extension activities, several upcoming events — including a national webinar, hands-on Tristate workshops and the South Queensland Grower Regional Forum — are now open for registration.

LUNCH & LEARN Webinar — Growing Robust Avocados

The next LUNCH & LEARN webinar will focus on strategies to improve fruit robustness, featuring insights from the Growing Robust Avocados project team. The session will explore trial findings, practical on-farm practices that strengthen fruit quality, and actionable strategies growers can apply in their orchards.

📅 12 March 2026
⏰ 12:00pm–12:45pm AEST | 10:00am–10:45am AWST
👉 Register HERE

All sessions will be recorded and made available on the BPR for later viewing. Growers with specific topics or questions are encouraged to contact Bridie Carr 📩 Bridie.Carr@dpi.qld.gov.au or their regional lead ahead of the session.

TRISTATE Practical Workshops — Nutrition & Fruit Quality

Growers are invited to attend practical nutrition and fruit quality workshops in Red Cliffs and Waikerie on 18 March, delivered by the AV23010 project team with technical support from Dr Stuart Irvine Brown (Queensland DPI) from the Growing Robust Avocados (AV21005) project team.

These hands-on sessions will cover key nutrition messages from the 2025 nutrition forum, nitrogen management strategies, results from the Tristate fruit skin nutrient survey, and practical demonstrations including real-time nitrogen and calcium testing. Participants will also explore soil suction tubes, crop removal rates, and best practice leaf analysis timing.

📍 Red Cliffs | Hardie’s farm — 18 March, 9:00am–11:00am
📍 Waikerie | Loffler’s farm — 18 March, 3:00pm–5:00pm

Places are limited, so early registration is encouraged.
👉 Reserve your spot HERE or contact Tristate regional lead Steven Falivene 📞 0427 208 611 📩 steven.falivene@dpi.nsw.gov.au.

South QLD Grower Regional Forum — Yield Consistency & Quality

South Queensland avocado growers, orchard managers and teams are invited to attend the South QLD Avocado Grower Regional Forum, focusing on yield consistency and fruit quality.

📅 Wednesday 25 March 2026
⏰ 7:30am–3:45pm
📍 Highfields Cultural Centre, Highfields

The forum will provide technical updates, practical insights and opportunities for discussion, with registration free and refreshments provided. To ensure growers remain the majority in attendance, reseller registrations are limited to two representatives per organisation.

👉 Find registration and agenda details HERE
For more information contact South Queensland regional lead Shanara Veivers 📞0408 371 054 📩 shanara.veivers@dpi.qld.gov.au.

This article appears as part of the 27 February 2026 issue of Guacamole, our e-Newsletter.

Input Sought for Horticulture Code of Conduct Review

The Federal Government is currently reviewing the Horticulture Code of Conduct, and the NFF Horticulture Council — of which Avocados Australia is a member — is seeking the views and experiences of growers and their partners to help inform the industry’s response.

The Code regulates trade between growers and traders to ensure transparency and clarity in commercial transactions. Traders may include agents and merchants in wholesale markets, pack houses and other aggregators. With fresh produce supply chains evolving significantly since the Code was last reviewed in 2015, this process aims to ensure the framework remains relevant and fit-for-purpose for today’s industry.

Participation in the survey represents an important opportunity to help shape the Code so it continues to meet business needs into the future. The survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete and closes COB Friday 6 March.

👉 Complete the survey here: https://lnkd.in/gXxQx8z8

This article appears as part of the 27 February 2026 issue of Guacamole, our e-Newsletter.

Quality of exported Australian Hass remains high

Retail quality monitoring in Hong Kong continued in January 2026 under the Avocado International Retail Quality Benchmarking project (AV24015). Funded through the Hort Innovation avocado R&D levy, the project will benchmark Australian avocado quality against competitor countries in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. In Hong Kong, four samples are collected weekly from major retailers including Wellcome, Market Place and PARKnSHOP. Monitoring will expand to Kuala Lumpur soon and continue weekly in both cities for two years as part of this comprehensive benchmarking program.

In January, 90% of monitored Australian Hass was rated acceptable, compared with 77% for competitor Hass. The key issue for Australian fruit was vascular browning: 5% of fruit had more than 10% of flesh affected. In competitor fruit, rots were the dominant defect, with over 21% having unacceptable rot levels (figure 1). These differences in rot levels occurred even though average fruit age was similar for both Australian (32 days) and competitor (35 days) samples.

Figure 1: Internal defects of Hass sampled in Hong Kong (January 2026)

A further difference was ripeness at purchase. Australian fruit was consistently firmer, with the majority purchased at stage 2, whereas competitor fruit was most commonly at stage 3. This variation did not appear to impact bruising levels, as no unacceptably bruised Hass were observed in Hong Kong in January 2026. Project progress will continue to be shared via monthly Guacamole summaries and Talking Avocados articles, and presented at regional forums and webinars.

Figure 2: Average ripeness at purchase of Hass sampled in Hong Kong (January 2026)

More information

For further details please contact Henry Hyde henry.hyde@ahr.com.au or Adam Goldwater adam.goldwater@ahr.com.au at AHR.

Acknowledgements

The Avocado International Retail Quality Benchmarking project (AV24015) has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the avocado research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.

This article appears as part of the 27 February 2026 issue of Guacamole, our e-Newsletter.

Domestic Marketing Update: Shepard Season Campaign Launches

Did you catch the Shepard avocado feature on the Today Show this week? Shepard season marketing activity has officially launched, with a strong focus on increasing consumer consideration and purchase.

To align with National Toast Day, Australian Avocados has partnered with well-known chef Darren Robertson to inspire Australians to take their avo toast to the next level — encouraging creativity, flavour exploration and new ways to enjoy Shepard avocados. A television segment aired this week and will be further amplified through food and lifestyle media publications, alongside Australian Avocados’ social media channels and broader earned media activity.

The Shepard campaign forms part of the broader domestic marketing program delivered by Hort Innovation and funded through the avocado marketing levy, designed to keep Australian avocados front-of-mind with consumers through targeted media, partnerships and multi-channel promotion.

👉 Growers can check out the 2026 Australian Avocados Marketing Blog for more details on the current campaign, upcoming activity and how marketing investments are supporting consumer demand throughout the season.

This article appears as part of the 27 February 2026 issue of Guacamole, our e-Newsletter.

Shaping What Comes Next: Industry Consultation Meetings Wrap-Up

Avocados Australia Limited (AAL) has been working with Hort Innovation (HIA) to develop new strategic plans for the industry and the levy investment program for the period 2026 to 2030. Since October last year, AAL and HIA have been running grower consultation workshops across all production regions seeking grower input to the new plans.

Through these workshops, growers have considered the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that need to be addressed in the new plans. Feedback has been collected on the production R&D Priorities, with some clear differences across the regions as well as areas of commonality. Growers have also reviewed the current AAL Industry Strategic Plan and provided valuable feedback on the key strategies for the future.

Last week, the regional consultation workshops concluded with sessions in the Tristate region (Mildura and Berri) and Western Australia (Manjimup and Carabooda), marking the completion of the in-person consultation.

Across the regions, 68 businesses have attended the workshops, representing 10% of all growing businesses nationally and 31% of national production.

Soon, an industry-wide survey will also be shared to provide the opportunity for all stakeholders to contribute input to the new industry plan. All of the feedback is now being collated, and the new strategic plans will be developed over the next few months.

This article appears as part of the 27 February 2026 issue of Guacamole, our e-Newsletter.

Strong Start to 2026 for Australian Hass Quality

Australian Hass avocados were 97% acceptable in January, far exceeding the 90% industry target. This is a strong improvement on December, when acceptability sat at 90% and bruising levels were notably higher. Unacceptable bruising fell sharply from 8% in December to 1% in January (Figure 1).

In December, we also observed a relationship between firmness at purchase and bruising across the monitored cities. In January, average firmness at purchase increased in most cities, lifting the overall average from 59 to 65. This increase may have contributed to the reduction in bruising.

Australian Hass quality also significantly outperformed imported New Zealand Hass, which recorded 81% acceptability. The gap was driven primarily by rot levels. Unacceptable rot levels were found in 16% of New Zealand Hass, compared with just 1% of Australian Hass. This likely reflects differences in Hass age, with New Zealand Hass averaging 25 days from pack to purchase, versus 16 days for Australian Hass. Overall, these results indicate an excellent start to 2026 for Australian Hass quality.

Figure 1. Major defects in Australian grown fruit (December 2025 and January 2026).

Shepard Wholesale Maturity Monitoring Resumes with Positive Initial Results

The AV22011 wholesale maturity monitoring program has resumed, with two samples of North Queensland Shepard collected in the first week of February. All samples (of 10 fruit) exceeded the minimum 21% dry matter standard, with results ranging from 22% to 23%. Although variability in the maturity was observed across both samples with the lowest DM being 18.7% and the highest DM being 27.3%, this reiterates the need for an adequate sample size, before you pick.

Well done to growers Kalahari Farms and Cadorin Orchards whose fruit was sampled and exceeded the minimum maturity standard, in this round.

To ensure consumers have the best eating experience, ensure that fruit you harvest meets the minimum dry matter standards of 21% for Shepard and 23% for Hass. Continue to monitor your dry matter levels as your harvest progresses. More information on dry matter testing is available HERE.

For further information on retail and wholesale monitoring, contact Adam Goldwater from Applied Horticultural Research (adam.goldwater@ahr.com.au), or Anne Larard (idm@avocado.org.au) from Avocados Australia.

Figure 2. Shepard dry matter levels by growing region (February 2026).

Protocol market export registration webinar next week – 18 FEB!

Avocado growers and packers are reminded to mark their diaries for next week’s Protocol Market Export Registration and Accreditation webinar, which will provide important guidance ahead of the 2026–27 export registration period.

The webinar is designed to help industry participants prepare for protocol market registrations and understand the accreditation requirements for exporting to India, Japan and Thailand. West Australian Growers and Packers are eligible to register for India, Japan, and/or Thailand, and East Coast Growers and Packers are eligible for India only.

Growers and packers can join directly at the scheduled time using the webinar link — no prior registration is required.

Webinar details:

🗓️ Date:     Wednesday 18 February 2026

🕐 Time:    11.00am-12.30pm AEST

Please click here to login to the webinar

The session will be particularly useful for new participants, although experienced exporters may also benefit from updates and reminders ahead of the registration period.

Registration process

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) will release the Industry Advice Notice (IAN) when registrations officially open on Friday 13 February.

Participants should use their existing login credentials to access the Australian Avocado Export Registration System – HERE.

Further information

For further information, please contact:

Richard Magney
Chief of Exports – Market Access
0477 969 607
marketaccess@avocado.org.au