[2] As of 2008, approximately 6,500 growers produce avocados on 60,000 bearing acres of land (less than 100 square miles).
New laws were passed allowing growers to form an association that would obtain a compulsory contribution from businesses directly involved in the avocado industry, and use the money to advertise and promote avocados to consumers throughout America.
The Board assumed this marketing responsibility from Calavo, which continued to manage distribution and relations with retailers for the 60% of growers who remained in the co-op.
[1] The newly organized Board began marketing avocados to American housewives and stay-at-home fathers, attempting to downplay the fruit's Mexican origin in favor of an exotic tropical or Mediterranean image, as well as its suitability for mass-produced processed food.
Among its initiatives are advertising, public relations, defending growers from effects of importation of avocados from Mexico,[5] compiling and disseminating industry news and information, lobbying, research on growing and production, and policing groves from "avocado rustlers" who steal fruit.