The Delcado Hass Avocado, which made its debut last year, will be back on the shelves this season with numbers bigger than ever.
The Delcado was introduced last year by the Delroy family after significant investment in enhanced growing practices and supply-chain technology to produce better quality fruit.
All Delcados are X-ray scanned to monitor quality control and are slow grown for better taste. Using near-infrared scanners, the avocados are individually checked for any form of internal damage before leaving the farm.
After 2020 was one of the lowest cropping seasons the family has ever experienced, this year is set to bring new meaning to the word bumper, with Delroy Orchards business development manager Robbie Delroy saying they’re expecting to harvest around 50 million avocados.
“We’ve had great support from our retail partners who are keen to get Delcados back on shelves. With the bigger volumes and expanded retail agreements, we will be able to introduce Delcados to new markets, such as Queensland, and maintain a steady supply of high-quality fruit from September through February – extending the season by two months,” said Delroy.
Delroy Orchards farm manager Suzie Delroy said they were able to achieve a fruitful season through the approximately 80000 trees they planted five years ago which are starting to pay off.
“All the elements came together – weather, more trees, plenty of hard work by the whole team and lots of TLC,” she said.
Suzie added that irregular cropping is natural in avocado trees and last season Western Australia experienced the lowest fruiting seen in 30 years.
“These low crops are often followed by heavy fruiting, as is the case this year. In fact, across the state, WA is on track to have nearly four times as much fruit this year.
“The orchard is incredibly healthy and our avocado trees are full of nutrients producing a blanket of blossoms last spring and ample fruit by winter, which were big enough to withstand storms and benefit from this year’s drenching rains,” she said.
The Delcados are available from September to February at Coles, Woolworths and ALDI supermarkets.
