North Queensland Shepard season starts strong while Australian Hass quality remains high

Australian Hass avocados were 94% acceptable in February, exceeding the 90% industry target. This is a slight decrease in quality from January, which had 97% acceptable fruit. The primary causes of unacceptable fruit were bruising and rots (Figure 1).

Out of the 53 10-fruit samples that were collected and assessed in February, only three had less than 90% acceptable fruit, with two of these samples originating from Perth stores. The poor performance of these two stores impacted the overall quality of fruit in Perth, lowering acceptable fruit levels from 97% to 83%. The remaining Perth stores, as well as the other cities sampled across Australia had very high-quality fruit. The acceptability of fruit was 98% in Brisbane and Sydney, and 99% in Melbourne – an excellent result for Australian Hass.

The first North Queensland Shepard of the season was sampled in Brisbane on 20 February 2026, with five samples collected and assessed. All Shepards were of acceptable quality, representing a very strong start to the 2026 season.

Figure 1. Major defects in Australian grown Hass (January 2026 and February 2026).

Central Queensland Shepard maturity monitoring begins with first sample exceeding standard

The AV22011 wholesale maturity monitoring program continued through February and into March, with 12 samples of North Queensland Shepard and 1 sample of Central Queensland Shepard collected since the 10^th of February. All samples exceeded the minimum 21% dry matter standard, with results ranging from 21% to 29% (Figure 2).

Maturity monitoring of North Queensland Shepard will cease due to sampled fruit consistently exceeding the 21% dry matter standard. The maturity monitoring program will now focus primarily on Central Queensland Shepard.

Well done to growers Avo North, B.W & T.T Canniford, Ceres Avocados, DBC Farming, Delais Orchards, Gorge Creek Orchards, Gunnado Farming, Leadwood, Obie Fresh, Priceless Produce, Red Valley Farms, Reidy’s Avocado and U & V & E & C Quintieri 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.

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

This article appears as part of the 13 March 2026 issue of Guacamole, our e-Newsletter.