Rachael Kimball Laenen is a sixth-generation farmer and fourth generation in her family to grow avocados.
The Kimball family has cultivated California’s rich landscape since 1865, planting their first avocado trees in 1920. Today, Laenen carries on the tradition at the family’s ranch, established in 1984, producing high-quality avocados while adapting to evolving consumer trends, sustainability demands and shifting trade policies.
As California avocado growers face potential tariffs that could reshape the market, Laenen shares insights on the industry’s challenges and the future of avocado farming in the U.S., saying that while tariffs on Mexican avocados could initially benefit California growers, they threaten long-term market stability.
Editor’s note: The following has been edited for clarity.
The Packer: Your family has a long, rich history in farming. Tell me about the farm and what led to its focus on avocados.
Laenen: Like anything, our evolution in farming has been driven by wanting to stay in agriculture and be sustainable, mostly economically. So, all of the shifts in commodities have been driven by markets and changing climates and changing desires. Originally, we started farming lima beans and sugar beets and then moved into walnuts and processing tomatoes, then transitioned into permanent tree crops with citrus and then avocados. Avocados became the sole focus for the ranch that we have now, because the soil and the microclimate where we are is perfectly suited to avocados.
What is it that sets your farm apart, and what’s distinctive about California avocados?
I think one of the things that’s really key to our family, and the fact that we’ve been able to do it for generations, is a desire to evolve and always in a pursuit of efficiency — and being the best at what we do. My grandmother was widowed twice with six children and was left two different farming businesses, so she had to figure it out and make it work. She was a super-strong role model.
My dad trained as a mechanical design engineer and also worked in motorsports, so there’s always been a passion to make things better and be better at what we do and every day be a better farmer than we were the day before. From that, we’ve embraced things like changes in commodities, but also technology and innovation and building systems on the ranch. That means we can be better all the way, all the time.
How have you seen the avocado industry change over the years?
The biggest thing is that farming in California is challenging. The land cost is higher than anywhere else in the country; where we are in Ventura County, it’s not unusual that farmland is $100,000 an acre. And input costs are much higher. Regulatory costs are increasing all the time. The tools that we have to do the job are decreasing. Our labor pool is shrinking.
All this means that you need to be larger. You have to have more. It used to be that 40 acres of avocados could sustain a family easily, but now you need to be much bigger, probably 100 acres. So, the industry has changed because it’s evolved. You have to have a more sizable operation. And the thing about here in California, it’s interesting, because you have a lot of smaller operations where people have made money in other industries and then have fallen in love with the lifestyle of living on an avocado ranch. But avocados are hard to grow. It’s challenging to be successful, to have significant production that will be enough to support you.
So, we’re seeing production shift from sort of down south, like in the San Diego area, moving further up north. Some of it’s climate driven, but a lot of it is — I don’t want to say hyperconsolidation — but a lot of smaller individuals are selling out, and larger families are buying up more ranches to spread the overhead over more acres.
Let’s talk about the tariffs. How could the pending tariffs impact your farm and pricing?
Well, the biggest thing is that anything that creates instability in the market is bad for everybody. In California, we only supply about 10% of the domestic supply of avocados. We cannot produce enough avocados to satisfy [the demand], so we really need other countries of origin to be our partners to create a stable avocado market. Our season is pretty short, and we run sort of March through August, but the rest of the year, California cannot supply.
In order to keep avocados on the menus at restaurants and in the shelf space in the grocery stores, we need a stable supply coming in. So, although the tariffs may, in the short term, result in better prices for us as California growers, in the long term, we really need and crave stability in year-round supply.
Looking to the future, what are your goals for the next five to 10 years?
We’re still recovering from a wildfire that came through in 2017, so my ultimate goal is to get the entire ranch back into production. We still have some acres to replant.
We’re looking at purchasing my great grandfather’s piece, so expanding our acreage a little bit in the next five years. (Currently farming on 150 acres, they are looking to add an additional 40-80 acres.)
And we’re probably going to be facing a full transition. My father, at the moment, is the managing partner of the business, and probably in the next five years, the full responsibility of running everything will transfer to me.
I see us really focusing on efficiency, both from inputs that we’re putting in — like getting better with how we apply fertilizer — and how little water we can use to still produce the same amount. Basically, like everybody, do more with less.
And we’re constantly looking at what technologies are out there, what resources that are going to become available so that we can stay sustainable.
Our main goal is that we can continue growing safe and healthy, delicious avocados, because there’s nothing better than seeing a bit of fruit as it’s heading off to the packinghouse and being really proud of what we’ve produced.
