The avocado industry achieved a major milestone in 2025, surpassing 3 billion pounds in the U.S. for the first time. And with more fruit coming, it’s a critical time for the industry to align its strategic vision to ensure continued growth, says Emiliano Escobedo, executive director of the Hass Avocado Board.
At this pivotal moment for avocados, the Hass Avocado Board and Farm Journal, The Packer’s parent company, are launching The Avocado Conference, a first-of-its-kind international event that seeks to gather every segment of the U.S. avocado supply chain. The inaugural event is set for Nov.18-20, 2026, at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.
“We just had our biggest year in terms of volume coming here to the United States and being produced here. And as avocados continue to grow and continue to be an incredible category for our industry — driving tremendous value for the produce department — it’s so important to have alignment among producers, handlers, exporters, importers, retailers and the entire industry,” Escobedo says. “That’s where we see The Avocado Conference playing a critical role in ensuring that our industry is going to continue to grow and that it is going to continue to add value to the entire sector.”
The Avocado Conference aims to deliver a forward-looking agenda examining global avocado production and trade, retail and foodservice market insights from Circana and Dataessential, consumer and shopper trends, evolving avocado marketing programs and broader economic and investment dynamics impacting the marketplace.
“The U.S. market is the No. 1 market in the world for avocados. More avocados are sold and consumed here in the United States than any other market in the world. And it’s the market that every country that produces avocados wants to be in,” Escobedo says. “The purpose of The Avocado Conference is to help build our industry, to collaborate, share insights and accelerate sustainable growth here in the United States, and build that demand with all of the countries that supply avocados to the U.S.”
The international conference is poised to gather avocado industry professionals from around the world and across the supply chain.
“The reason this conference is so important is because it’s a first-of-its-kind international gathering for the entire U.S. avocado value chain,” he says. “Whether they’re coming from established areas like Mexico and Peru or new entrants like Colombia and other new countries as they are allowed in the United States, we want everyone to be part of it.”
The conference will also provide a collective of the latest consumer research from the Hass Avocado Board and other industry organizations with the goal of driving demand and identifying new opportunities for growth.
“When you attend the conference, you’re going to be able to understand not just what is happening on the market side with consumers, with new consumers and new demographics, but also how the industry is planning to support the whole value chain to meet those consumers’ needs,” Escobedo says.
The Avocado Conference will also offer important insights for retail and foodservice professionals, he says.
“As a retailer attending this conference, you’re going to learn from the Hass Avocado Board, Circana and Dataessential how consumers are shopping, what’s driving consumer purchase, what the impact of consumers buying an avocado has on the overall basket, but we also want to create an opportunity for retailers to talk to our industry and to our growers and exporters, so that there’s alignment.
“One of the challenges we have faced as an industry is the lack of alignment between the production that’s available to support large-scale promotions across the United States and the retailers’ understanding of that,” he continues. “Retailers attending the conference will get to hear firsthand from the producers themselves on what is happening on the ground and what they can expect in terms of volume for the season to come. That’s going to help retailers plan.”
The program will be equally relevant to grower-packer-shippers and exporters, he says.
“The overall goal of The Avocado Conference is to align on demand signals and operational practices to support profitable and sustainable growth,” Escobedo says. “And we want everybody to come, not just California producers; we want producers from Mexico, from Peru, from Chile, from Colombia, from Dominican Republic as well as packers and exporters for foodservice and retail leaders — everyone is welcome.”
