Childers avo grower Lachlan Donovan said he began packing shepard avocados today. Mr Donovan said this year’s yield appeared, at this early stage, to be more than last year.
He said in Bundaberg there was a six-week window for shepard avocados as its prime season was from March to April.
Bundaberg and the Atherton Tablelands are the only two places in the world the shepard avocado grows.
“You need to have the right climate at the flowering period which Bundaberg has,” Mr Donovan explained.
Mr Donovan said there appeared to be more of the fruit this season than previous.
“Shepard is a fickle crop,” he said.
“The weather at flowering time will determine how much fruit sets on the tree.
“This year most of the shepard trees have a lot of fruit on them.”

With 350ha across four farming operations, the Donovans have about 70,000 trees, which produce 3000-4000 tonnes of avocado.
The farms are located at Childers and Bundaberg, with another farm at Bellthorpe on the Sunshine Coast.
Mr Donovan said the dry weather had affected avo growers across the Bundaberg region.
“The heat has caused more fruit to drop off the trees than we would have liked and might have brought the yields back a little bit,” he said.
Aussies are eating an average 3.1kg of the green fruit every year – 600g more than 10 years ago.
This demand has Queensland avocados penned to reach a gross value of $225 million this financial year – 49% higher than initial estimates.
Mr Donovan said shepard avocados will slowly start populating supermarket shelves.
Avocados Australia says most of avocado exports go to Singapore and Malaysia with priorities now including Thailand, Japan and China.
“Production fluctuates from year to year between production regions depending on seasonal conditions and other factors,” he said.
”The avocado industry is in a growth phase, so we expect to see year-on-year growth continue at a national level.”