BOLD Class 3 Graduates with Honors in Oxnard!

The twelve members of BOLD Class 3 met in person for the last time at their BOLD Class 3 graduation on March 20th in Oxnard California. The commencement graduation was a time for celebration, but still a time to get some more work done before the final curtain came down on the third class of BOLD graduates.

Four teams of three class participants each presented their final special project on Sustainability. All four of the presentations focused on avocado sustainability, highlighting company’s, countries of origin, country associations as well as individual’s action and our collective forward thinking in the area of sustainability. These leaders are going to be the generation tasked with finding and driving solutions for keeping our industry sustainable, both economically and in the area of environmental impact, ensuring that our environmental footprint now and for future generations is improving, and not taking away from the futures ability to grow our excellent fruit for themselves.

After the presentations it was time for the bestowment of the BOLD Certificates, and each class member became an official member of a very elite club – they were now one of only 36 people in our industry to become a BOLD Class alumni!!

After the ceremony, and lots of pictures were taken, we all headed over to Brokaw nursery in Ventura, for an afternoon of lunch, learning and networking. Rob Brokaw, Consuleo and Matias, with some help from BOLD graduate Nathan Lurie hosted a grand lunch out in the Brokaw grove under a sprawling Oak tree that must have been there over 100 years! After lunch we toured the grove including trial plantings of new avocado varieties, like the Luna.

After the grove tour, the new graduates got a lesson how avocado trees are grown, including the very technical grafting process that Brokaw nursery is known for. It was a day filled with gathering avocado knowledge, and networking with new forever friends in our industry.