SOMIS, Calif. — Thousands of Hass avocados littered the soil in Sergio Acevedo’s orchard Saturday in this community northeast of Camarillo. The Mountain Fire had scorched some of the fruit, leaving it shriveled or in ashes.
But the ferocious winds that followed the blaze ripped through the area and tore more than half of the remaining avocados off the trees, scattering them across his 2-acre farm. Most of the fruit on the ground appeared untouched — bright green and good enough to eat. But Acevedo knew better.
He picked one off the ground and cut off a slice to reveal the inside: dry and dull green. “You see? There’s no oil. It’s not ready,” he told his daughter Wendy Acevedo.
“But it was so close.” The avocados were only about a month away from being ripe enough for market. The 75-year-old shook his head and chucked the ruined fruit back on the ground.
Over the weekend, Acevedo and his family surveyed their land, where the fire had damaged or destroyed an estimated 100 of his 300 avocado trees. Acevedo’s orchard is one of more than 140 avocado farms in the burn area, according to Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner Korinne Bell. The county is the state’s top producer of avocados, she said.
Most of the avocado producers in the Mountain Fire burn area are small-scale farmers, Bell said: “They have a small couple acres here or there.” As of last week, the Mountain Fire had burned 12,000 acres of agricultural land. Avocados were among the crops hit.
