Avocados all year round

Research at the Miguel Research Institute will enable continuous marketing of Israeli avocados all year round and reduce the cost to the consumer

Good news for consumers in Israel, as part of the 'Avocado All Year Round' project, a new study at the PostHarvest Innovation Center at the Miguel Research Institute, it will be possible to store and market avocados all year round.

In the presentation of the results of the research in the laboratory, an avocado from the 'Reed' variety, harvested last season and stored until now, was presented and tasted. According to the new protocol, the results of the research will even help lower the price of avocados for the consumer and make the Israeli fruit more accessible.

The main researchers Prof. Rafi Stern from North R&D and Dani Gamarsani from the Postharvest Innovation Center at the Miguel Research Institute with the group of researchers, developed a protocol for preserving the avocado fruit, which is very sensitive to environmental conditions, using innovative methods and tools and a holistic approach, in a protocol that begins with cultivation in the orchard up to the stage of harvesting and marketing .

Using the new protocol, which is the core of the work at the 'Postharvest Innovation Center', the shelf life of the avocado was extended, under controlled picking conditions, while maintaining food safety and protecting the avocado from rotting during the picking period. The study 'Avocado all year round' was supported by the Chief Scientist Fund at the Ministry of Agriculture.

The technology developed to preserve the shelf life of the avocado, will allow a continuous supply of the avocado fruit throughout the months of the year and when it is ripe for eating. The research will make it possible to plan and optimize the supply chain, reduce depreciation, and lower the final price for the consumer. 

Food safety and shelf life extension

David Zigdon, CEO of the Miguel Research Institute, says: "Israel is a world leader in the field of agricultural technologies. The results of the research provide a significant ability to extend the shelf life of the avocado, significantly expand the market potential of the growers and give consumers the ability to purchase avocados produced in the country. The results of the research that we presented to managers of companies for marketing agricultural produce, owners of cold stores and farmers, is another verification of the importance of the existence of agricultural-applied R&D that directly affects the consumer and the cost of living in Israel. The Miguel Research Institute invests heavily in the field of food safety, food preservation, extending shelf life and year-round marketing ability, and at the same time, reducing depreciation in agricultural produce. I thank the chief scientist at the Ministry of Agriculture for his support of this important research, which will change the face of the future of avocado marketing and consumption."

Itamar Lofo, director of the postharvest laboratory at the Miguel Research Institute, says: "We are happy and proud of the results of the research and the development of solutions to problems in the local and national market. The center develops the science of preserving agricultural produce, to reduce depreciation, by innovative methods, tools and approaches, using research with advanced means to understand the world of preservation, as well as by new applied approaches, which focus on a wide spectrum of fruits and a wide variety of species in vegetables and fruits: from grains to subtropical produce . Those who crave the green fruit, which will arrive at the right time in the markets, can rejoice, because in the near future the avocado will be available throughout the year. The avocado that we presented at the end of the study, was picked last season and is ripe and tasty and includes all the nutritional values ​​that were in it at the moment it was picked, so the phrase "eat fruit only in season" will no longer be relevant, in light of the results of our research.

Reuven Dor, chairman of the Avocado Growers' Table at the Plant Council and a researcher at North R&D: "At the Postharvest Innovation Center of the Miguel Research Institute, we have been working for several years to make sure that there will be avocados for marketing all year round. The avocado season ends at the beginning of July and resumes in the middle of August, which creates a gap of about seven weeks when there are no avocados, or there are refrigerated avocado markets that are not always suitable for food. The goal of Miguel and North R&D's research is to reach a situation where the late-harvested 'Reed' avocado variety is good and edible by mid-August, when the summer varieties begin to be harvested. Our goal is for the avocado to be good, high-quality and available to everyone at a low price."

Oded Ratner, Fruit Council: I am very impressed with the work being done in Miguel, on the subject of avocados, under the leadership of Dr. Danny Gemarsani, and the result that may lead to a situation where it will be possible to market avocados from local production throughout the year after two years. This will prevent the situation that is natural and happens in many kinds of fruit, that there is a 'low' season, in which there is very little avocado or none at all, and as a result the prices for the consumer in that season increase and cause the pressure to import the fruit to Israel to increase for no reason, because we produce much more in Israel than can be consumed . So the amount of quality avocado produced in Israel is not the problem, but the distribution throughout the year and the option offered by the Postharvest Innovation Center in Miguel, for long term marketing throughout the year will solve the problem. Kudos to the researchers."

According to the data from the 'Avocado Growers Table', in the Plant Council, the avocado is considered a stable branch, whose yield increases over the years, therefore in recent years many farmers have invested in planting avocado plantations of different varieties. The scope of the branch is 130 thousand dunams. By the beginning of the Shemita year, another 10,000 dunams bearing fruit are expected to be planted. The national production volumes in 2020/2021 stood at 120 thousand tons of avocado and the expectation for the year 2021/2022 is 200 thousand tons. The volume of exports to Europe in 2021 was about 55,000 tons, with the forecast that in 2021/2022 it will expand to about 110,000 tons. Expected financial turnover: year 2020/2021- 720 million NIS at the exchange rate, predicted for 2021/2022: 1,000 million NIS at the exchange rate.

The avocado contains healthy oils and a wide variety of vitamins and minerals: B2, B6, C, E, K, niacin, folic acid, pantothenic acid, magnesium, potassium, lutein, beta corten and omega 3 fatty acids.

The global fruit and vegetable market turns over 2.3 trillion dollars a year. About 30-45% of it is depreciation of agricultural products, whose value in the world is between 690 billion dollars and close to a trillion dollars a year. This figure does not take into account other variables that the world is dealing with today, resulting from the overexploitation of resources: global warming, ocean pollution, groundwater salinization, and more, which cannot be quantified into numerical data.

The 'Center for Postharvest Innovation' at the Miguel Research Institute provides research and consulting services, develops technological methods and tools, conducts feasibility tests and develops independent protocols, which mean transferring knowledge to farmers and various organizations in Israel and around the world, regarding how agricultural produce can be preserved.

More of the topic in Hayadan:

• Research in molecular genetics and genetic engineering in fertilization mechanisms examines the self-fertilization ability of trees without the help of bees
• Researchers managed to produce avocado seedlings in half the time and without depreciation * saving billions of dollars and the shortcut to meet demand