SOMIS, California — Thousands of Hass avocados sprinkled the soil in Sergio Acevedo’s orchard Saturday in this community northeast of Camarillo. The Mountain Fire has burned some of the fruits, turning them dry or into ashes.
But the fierce winds that followed the fire tore through the area and tore more than half of the remaining avocados off the trees, scattering them across his 2-hectare farm. Most of the fruit on the ground looks untouched – bright green and good enough to eat.
But Acevedo knew better. He took one from the ground and cut it open to reveal the inside: dry and dull green.
Sergio Acevedo shows a spoiled avocado that has lost all its moisture and is no longer edible.
“You see? No oil. It’s not ready yet,” Wendy Acevedo said to her daughter. “But it’s so close.”
Avocados are only about a month ripe for the market. A 75-year-old man shook his head and threw a rotten fruit on the ground. Over the weekend, Acevedo and his family surveyed their land, where the fire destroyed or destroyed about 100 of their 300 avocado trees. Acevedo’s orchard is one of more than 140 avocado orchards in the burned area, according to Ventura County Agriculture Commissioner Korinne Bell.
The county is the top producer of avocados in the country, he said.
Most of the avocado producers in the area burned by the Volcano Fire are small-scale farmers, Bell said: “They have a few acres here.”
In the past week, the Api Gunung has burned 12,000 hectares of agricultural land. Avocados are one of the most difficult crops to grow.
Acevedo removed a tree branch from an avocado tree damaged by the Mt. The fire damaged or destroyed about 100 of the 300 avocado trees.
So far, 4,102 acres of avocados are in the burned area, which represents a quarter of the 16,497 acres of avocados harvested in Ventura County last year. However, it’s too soon to know exactly how many avocado trees in the area are damaged or destroyed, Bell said.
County officials have completed a quarter of the survey and so far have counted 588 acres of avocados damaged or destroyed in the fire. Losses so far are estimated at $4.3 million.
“We expect that number to increase significantly,” Bell said.
It is not yet clear whether the avocado market will be affected by the fire, because most of the harvest begins in the winter and goes into the summer in Ventura County, she said. “So if there’s any market impact, we’re not going to see it until now.”
Currently, consumers are unlikely to see an increase in avocado prices from the fire because most of the avocados purchased in the US are imported from Mexico.
In total, more than 240 buildings, many of which were primary residences, were damaged and 127 were damaged during the Mountain Fire. As of Wednesday, the nearly 20,000-hectare fire is 98% contained.
The harvest is almost finished now
The farmer gave his granddaughter, Maya Solis, 14, a hug as his daughter Wendy Acevedo Solis, seen from the fire that destroyed the family’s avocado farm in Somis.
Acevedo said he felt sorry for many who lost their homes in the fire. He lived in Oxnard with his wife and never built a house on the farm. But he was sick of seeing how the fire had burned the trees he loved so much for almost 25 years.
The fire also damaged the irrigation system. He didn’t have fire insurance, he said.
In the first few days after the fire, Acevedo said, he was devastated by the images he saw of the destruction. But for the next few days, he focused on moving forward. Wendy Acevedo, 43, started a GoFundMe for him. At first, his father was against it. He was still a little hesitant.
“You always help others. It’s about time you received help too,” she said as she walked through the ruined garden.
He reminded himself of his beginnings as an immigrant farmer who came to the United States with almost nothing. He had only $100 in his pocket when he left Mexico City for the U.S. in the 1970s, he said. From that, he bought a house, put his two children through university and paid for his daughter’s house.
In 2003, Acevedo spent most of his retirement money to buy an avocado farm where he also planted other fruits such as mandarins, cherimoyas and pomegranates. After years of spending every free minute on the farm, his farm became productive and profitable enough to support himself.
Avocados are not good to eat because they are damaged by the Mt.
The farm is not only an investment, but also a shelter.
It is the setting for many family memories, life landmarks and new traditions. There he taught his son, now an adult, how to drive. That’s where his daughter got married 16 years ago, among the newly planted mandarin and orange trees. And it is the place where the granddaughter planted pumpkin seeds in the spring and picked pumpkins in the fall.
During the week, he works as a diesel mechanic for an agricultural company and spends his weekends in the garden. He had hoped to retire on the farm, but now it seems more difficult.
“Nothing is impossible,” he said. “You just have to work hard. I just have to start over.”
He said he tried to see the fire as a setback but not the end. Avocado saplings take three years to start producing fruit and about five years to fully produce. Acevedo had to wait until February to grow the next saplings – all of them Hass, the main variety grown in California.
But first he had to prepare the land, which included cutting dead trees down to the stumps, removing the roots and removing everything from his property. You will take at least $ 20,000 just to do that, and it is not accounting for almost all the loss of this year’s harvest, he said.
Acevedo said he will be in the red for a few years before breaking even. Wendy said she helped her father apply for financial aid with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“This is not the end of life. It will come back,” said avocado farmer Sergio Acevedo, 75, who plans to plant new trees in his farm in Somis.
On Saturday, Acevedo, a vivacious and vivacious senior, hurriedly inspected the garden. Some trees were burnt. Some have fallen. Others looked dry but some avocados were barely hanging on. Then there was a group of vibrant green trees – driven from the inferno.
He approached a navel orange tree with charred branches. He picked up a freshly fallen orange and took a knife from his pocket to slice it in half. Acevedo pulled out some skin and took a big bite.
“Still sweet,” he said. “This tree, this one, will be fine.”
