Hass quality increases as Shepard maintains strong start to season

Australian-grown avocados continued to show excellent quality throughout March, with 97% of fruit deemed acceptable. This is an increase in quality from February, which had 94% acceptable fruit.

The Shepard season is well underway, with the variety making up 52% of March samples, of which 99.7% of fruit was acceptable. The first two retail samples of Central Queensland Shepard of the season were collected, with all fruit deemed acceptable. The remaining samples were WA-grown Hass, which performed very well at 94% acceptable fruit.

Bruising was the main defect affecting Hass, though its overall impact on quality was low. Only 2.7% of fruit was deemed unacceptable due to bruising (Figure 1). Only a single Shepard fruit was unacceptable, due to a mix of rots and bruising.

For reference, Shepard made up 70% of retail samples collected in March 2025, with overall acceptability very similar to this season at 97%.

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

Shepard maturity monitoring continues with all samples exceeding the minimum standard

The AV22011 wholesale maturity monitoring program continued through March, with five samples of Central Queensland Shepard collected since 9 March. All samples exceeded the minimum 21% dry matter standard, with results ranging from 21% to 28% (Figure 2).

Well done to growers Anderson Orchards, I.D. & S.L Groves, Nashy Produce and Simpson Farms whose fruit was sampled and exceeded the minimum maturity standard since the last Guacamole update.

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 

Figure 2. Shepard dry matter levels from fruit sampled from 9 March 2026

More information

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.

Acknowledgements

The Monitoring Avocado Supply Chain Quality (AV22011) project 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 10 April 2026 issue of Guacamole, our e-Newsletter.