AVOCADO DEMAND MULTIPLIED BY CINCO.

Byline: Jennifer Klein Staff Writer

Cinco de Mayo just wouldn't be the same without a hearty bowl of guacamole, with thick slices of avocado served on the side.

While celebrating Mexican heritage, Americans are expected to consume 17 million pounds of avocados today - the biggest avocado-selling day of the year nationwide, even ahead of Super Bowl Sunday.

Despite Ventura County's role as one of the top-ranking avocado-producing counties in the state - with an average of $58 million a year in sales - local growers won't be seeing much green this year. Pest problems and a cooler-than-usual spring last year have shrunk the crop size.

``It's a very difficult year for us,'' said John Grether, owner of Grether Farming Co. in Somis. ``It's frustrating to have everything in place - consumer demand, good promotions, acceptance of the fruit - and fail as farmers because we can't deliver the fruit.''

Two pests - thrips and the persea mite - were especially tough on the trees in the past year, causing the plants to be stressed and scarring the skin.

The cool spring in 1999 kept the bees from doing as good a job in pollinating, Grether said.

However, local growers hope the current downturn will be an anomaly. They have gradually increased the avocado acreage in the county within the past two years - in contrast to cutbacks five years ago in acreage devoted to avocados because of pest problems and lower demand.

Now avocados are grown on about 16,000 acres in Ventura County.

``We can't keep up with the demand for avocado trees statewide," said Larry Rose, sales manager at Brokaw Nursery in Saticoy. ``It certainly has stopped a slight decline and stabilized, and it will increase over the next couple of years."

But more important than acreage is the increase in the number of avocados grown per tree because of new varieties and farming techniques. This year's crop is expected to be 17 percent larger than last year's statewide, officials said.

``The prices are good for those growers who do have a good crop,'' Grether said. ``It will be financially profitable because the demand is there.''

Avocado growers in San Diego and Riverside counties will be the primary fiscal beneficiaries of the May holiday season because their harvests are peaking right around now. Because it's farther north, Ventura County's harvest peaks a little later.

California produces 95 percent of the nation's avocados, grown on 60,000 acres statewide - primarily in coastal counties from northern San Diego County to San Luis Obispo County. Los Angeles is the top consumer market in the nation, Michelle Spelman of the California Avocado Commission said.