Avocados Australia’s special side event to Hort Connections drew a full house of industry members on 7 June, 2021.

Avocados Australia CEO John Tyas said it was the first time the organisation, a Hort Connections industry partner, had held a side event at the major national conference.

“We were over-subscribed with interested attendees, keen to know more about the latest in industry marketing, retail, supply chain quality and export,” Mr Tyas said.

“The event provided a great opportunity for people to join key industry stakeholders from across the supply chain and hear the latest in industry, marketing, retail and supply chain R&D developments and improvements, including our export markets and the extensive update of our Infocado system.”

Hort Innovation Marketing Manager Adele Nowakowska provided an update on the new Australian Avocados campaign, Our Green Gold.

The new campaign, featuring well-known comedian Nazeem Hussain, aims to connect emotionally with Australian avocado consumers, and ultimately to increase the frequency of purchase.

“In a year when supply is forecast to increase by 65% (compared to the previous 12 months), the timing and goal of this campaign could not be more important,” Mr Tyas said.

“This year’s Hass crop is of excellent quality, and we’ve had good growing conditions across most of our production regions, so it’s definitely the time to celebrate Our Green Gold.”

(You can watch the new Our Green Gold ad here bit.ly/AusAvos2021.)

Other speakers at the event included Woolworths’s Jessica Loader, who provided an update on retail activities and avocados.

The Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries’ Noel Ainsworth provided valuable insights into fruit quality and supply chain temperatures from grower to ripening/wholesale after sampling numerous supply chains for a two-year period.

Applied Horticultural Research’s Adam Goldwater followed with an update on the retail performance of avocados after sampling carried out in metropolitan stores during the past 12 months.

Avocados Australia Data Analyst Daniel Martins provided an update on the exciting new Infocado system, and CEO John Tyas covered the current state of play, and export potential.

“Given the response, we will definitely look at how we can be a part of the Hort Connections shoulder program in future years.”

More information

You can find recordings of some of the presentations in the BPR Library, under Event Proceedings: avocado.org.au/bpr/.

This article was produced for the Winter 2021 edition of Talking Avocados.