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Food is always under constant research to achieve more sustainable crops, optimize resources and, ultimately, improve the life of human beings and the planet in general. In this sense, the University of California Riverside has been working for more than half a century researching new avocado varieties. After years of work, Luna UCR™, as it is called, will soon be available to growers on the world market.
This new avocado offers consumers a great taste. One of the main improvements is that its rind turns black when it is ripe, so you can perfectly know when it is at its optimum moment to eat it. In addition, it has a high post-harvest quality and has a type of flower that makes it an efficient pollinator for different avocado varieties, including Hass, the leader in the avocado world (according to the Association of Avocado Producers and Packers Exporters of Mexico (APEAM), 80% of the avocados consumed in the world are of this variety). On the other hand, according to researchers, its differences with the Hass are almost imperceptible. However, the Luna can be much more profitable.
An intergenerational research
Developed by UC Riverside-based agricultural scientists, the project has been led by Mary Lu Arpaia, a UC Riverside-based UC Cooperative Extension horticulturist, and her colleague Eric Focht, a UC Riverside staff research associate in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences in the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. Although its development has been an intergenerational investigation going back more than 50 years.
According to Mary Lu Arpaia, this new fruit can be grown on smaller trees, which would allow avocado growers to plant them in dense, close rows, such as in Southern California. The process to become available in supermarkets is arduous. In fact, it may be several years before we can buy them.
Luna UCR™ will be marketed worldwide through an agreement with Eurosemillas, a Spanish company specializing in the international marketing of patented crop varieties. Under the agreement drafted by UC Riverside’s Office of Technology Partnerships, Eurosemillas is the licensee of the variety. The company has established partnerships with growers in 14 countries outside the U.S. to grow this new avocado. We’ll see when we can start testing Luna avocados.