Avocado cultivation expands through Spain with 14,000 hectares reported in 2019, according to the Traveler.

Data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Spain shows that avocado crops are concentrated in areas such as Axarquía de Málaga and on the tropical coast of Granada, as well as in Tenerife, Las Palmas, Alicante, Valencia, Huelva and Cádiz.

Andrés Ibarra together with his partner Javier Cívicos have avocado crops in a small Asturian village called Valbuena.

"It's thanks to the regional diversity of different microclimates that the area has," Ibarra was reported as saying.

Aguacastur company

Ibarra shares how the Aguacastur company got started and how it offers everything from technical advice - to assess whether an area meets the necessary conditions - to help with planting, design, farm maintenance, ecological fertilization program, redirection of poorly managed or planted farms, etc.

"Virtually anything related to avocado," said Ibarra.

Before growing avocados, factors must be taken into account, such as how the subtropical tree is delicate.

"It needs the necessary nutrients just right, and its biggest enemies sare flooded soils, wind and frost, problems that in Asturias are solved thanks to the thermoregulatory effect of the sea," according to the article.

Therefore, Ibarra and Cívicos told the Traveler that before deciding whether growing avocados in Asturias was the best option, the team carried out a field study on Asturian geography.

Ibarra said that the entire north and northwest strip of the peninsula has great potential and generally estimates that an area is suitable for growing avocado up to 15 kilometers inland.

"If certain agronomic techniques are used, a plantation could be successful in some areas that might not seem so favorable due to the dreaded winter frosts."

Agrarian economy

One of the aspects that most motivates Ibarra is to generate an agrarian economy around the avocado of certain relevance.

"An alternative source of profit could help facilitate the settling of young people in towns and reduce the problems of depopulation, not in all of Asturias but in some specific areas."

"This economic activity could be very important for the Asturian countryside and for other nearby communities such as Cantabria, Galicia and even the Basque Country, where we already have friends with pilot plantations," he said.

"Conventional avocados of good caliber and of the first category, sold to a commercial operator instead of direct sale is being paid out at around 3.5€/kg. A substantially more profitable price than that of apple cider."