A shipment of green pioneers landed in a Minnesota distributor’s warehouse last month.
The pioneers, all 1,000 of them, are Sharwil avocados. Known for its large size and buttery taste, the variety is Hawaii’s primary culitvar, but it’s been 25 years since any type of local avocado was sent to the mainland.
Easing of U.S. Department of Agriculture export regulations is changing that.
“This is very, very exciting for the whole state,” said Kona avocado grower Brooks Wakefield, who with her husband, Bill, is a board member of the Hawaii Avocado Association.
Export of all Hawaii avocados to the mainland was banned in 1992 after a fruit fly species was found in an outbound shipment. Avocados could still be sent if they went through a fumigation process, but that can affect taste.
Now growers and avocado aficionados alike can reap the benefits of the eased regulations.
“If the growers follow the compliance requirements in the pack house, we’re able to ship a fresh product to the mainland without treating with chemicals or irradiation,” said Glenn Sako, an agricultural specialist with the Hawaii County Research and Development Department.
“It opens up a big market for us, and the prices are higher,” Wakefield said.
Mainland prices are estimated to be double what growers can get per pound in-state.
The USDA approved its regulation to ship Sharwils — and only Sharwils — in October 2013. The avocados can be sent to 32 states, all in Northern regions that are inhospitable to fruit flies, as well as Washington, D.C.
“It just took a little bit to get the things moving along,” Sako said of the lag between the regulation’s approval and the first shipment.
Implementation procedures were set in place by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services. APHIS must certify each participating avocado farm, which in turn must follow protocol for sanitation and fruit fly monitoring.
Wakefield said she was glad to see so many different groups coming together throughout the process.
The avocado association worked with Hawaii County, the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, and Commodity Forwarders Inc. to prepare for the first shipment. Avocados were packed at the Hawaii Food Basket’s West Hawaii location in Honalo.
A Sharwil avocado is larger than the most common mainland variety, the Hass. But its candidacy for export stems mainly from its tougher skin, which makes the Sharwil a poor fruit fly host.
The avocado has consumer benefits as well.
“It also has a a very small seed, so a large … meat-to-seed ratio,” Sako said. “In some taste tests, it’s done better than the Hass.”
Sharwil avocados grow especially well in Kona’s agriculture belt, where the Wakefields farm is. The same region is best known for its coffee crop, which has struggled over the past years to combat the invasive coffee berry borer and cope with extreme weather, from deluge to drought.
“Since we’ve been having so many problems with coffee, it’s a good alternative,” Wakefield said.
She and her husband also grow Malama avocados, but have been transitioning to Sharwil for some time. Many other farmers are doing the same, she said.
Sako said the hope is that the pilot shipment’s success will encourage more growers to begin cultivating Sharwil.
Two additional sample boxes have already been sent to distributors in Philadelphia and New York.
“Just to give them a product,” Sako said. “So that we can be ready to set up accounts before Nov. 1.”
The Sharwil shipping season permitted by the USDA is Nov. 1 to March 31.
“We want to be able to hit the ground running,” Sako said.