Fruit Attraction – Madrid October 8-10, 2024

How do you talk, learn and visit with avocado stakeholders from around the globe in just two days? You attend the Fruit Attraction trade show in Madrid, where the featured item of the entire show was the Avocado – that’s how!

HAB Chairman Bob Schaar, Executive Director Emiliano Escobedo, and Director of Industry Affairs John McGuigan did just that recently in Madrid, Spain.

In addition to attending and advocating for HAB at one of the largest fresh fruits & vegetable shows in the world, this group also attended the World Avocado Organization’s (WAO) annual membership meeting, where Emiliano addressed the attendees on the work of HAB, and how we are facing the future of the avocado industry here in the U.S. marketplace. He was also able to inform all attendees how incredibly important it is for Europe to find a way to emulate HAB, in its own way, to make investments to help drive demand in the second largest avocado market in the world, the EU and the UK. We also participated in the global avocado congress held in connection with the Fruit Attraction trade show, where we learned about European consumers and the sustainability challenges the industry is facing in Europe.

During the show, we had the opportunity to meet industry people from Morocco, Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Chile, California, and Spain, all in a few days! We also visited with our partners at CIRAD to get their latest updates on the markets they work in, with their incredible reach and knowledge of areas that don’t hit our radar daily. It is always a learning experience when we visit with them and learn more about the global situation of avocados.

After the show, we traveled to Malaga’s production region in Spain, Spain’s oldest avocado-growing region, and visited with Trops and Brokaw Nursery. Our visit was insightful and educational, and it showed us that other areas in avocado production are being impacted by the same climate, weather, and environmental issues that our producing regions face from areas that bring fruit to the U.S. market.

We talked with producers, nursery employees, and marketers about their challenges in supplying the other international markets, and how they are trying to grow demand and supply those markets as well as being attuned to the needs and desires of consumers in those markets when it comes to quality, information, and sustainability questions.

It was eye-opening and insightful, helping us better understand the global nature of our industry and all of the moving parts that we will have to keep in mind as we try to continue to grow our market and sales at sustainable levels here in the U.S.

All-in-all a very efficient way to see the avocado world in only a couple of days – and learn about what is going on all around us that certainly impacts our work.