ABSTRACT
Until the 1920s, there were multiple different varieties of avocados being cultivated and sold. However, in order to professionalise the industry in California, breeders needed to identify a more resilient variety that could withstand temperature fluctuations, appealed to consumers and was robust enough to withstand shipping. At first, the Fuerte was the preferred option, having been discovered in Mexico by a leading Californian avocado breeder. However, quickly a new variety emerged: the Hass. This was an accidental discovery by an amateur grower, but it provided the ideal variety. Today, 80% of the world’s avocados are Hass avocados and has proved itself ideally suited to the globalised avocado market. Without the discovery of the Hass, it would have been less likely that the avocado would have become the global commodity crop that it is today.
