Editing Avocado (section)

=== Harvest and postharvest ===
Commercial orchards produce an average of seven tonnes per hectare each year, with some orchards achieving 20 tonnes per hectare.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6902e/x6902e04.htm |title = Avocado Production in Australia |last = Whiley|first = A|publisher = [[Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations]]|date = 1 September 2000|access-date = 29 December 2007| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080112135727/http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6902e/x6902e04.htm| archive-date= 12 January 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> [[Biennial bearing]] can be a problem, with heavy crops in one year being followed by poor yields the next.

Like the banana, the avocado is a [[climacteric (botany)|climacteric]] fruit, which matures on the tree, but ripens off the tree. Avocados used in commerce are picked hard and green and kept in coolers at {{convert|3.3|to|5.6|C|F}} until they reach their final destination. Avocados must be mature to ripen properly. Avocados that fall off the tree ripen on the ground. Generally, the fruit is picked once it reaches maturity; Mexican growers pick 'Hass' avocados when they have more than 23% dry matter, and other producing countries have similar standards. Once picked, avocados ripen in one to two weeks (depending on the cultivar) at [[room temperature]] (faster if stored with other fruits such as apples or bananas, because of the influence of [[ethylene]] gas). Some supermarkets sell ripened avocados which have been treated with synthetic ethylene to hasten ripening.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ethylene-Gas.htm |title=Ethylene gas and produce |publisher=Mindfully.org |date=1 June 1976 |access-date=12 May 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100526120225/http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ethylene-Gas.htm| archive-date= 26 May 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref> The use of an ethylene gas "ripening room", which is now an industry standard, was pioneered in the 1980s by farmer Gil Henry of [[Escondido, California]], in response to footage from a hidden supermarket camera which showed shoppers repeatedly squeezing hard, unripe avocados, putting them "back in the bin", and moving on without making a purchase.<ref>{{Cite news
| author = Steve Chawkins
| title = Gil Henry dies at 88; revolutionized avocado industry; Henry pioneered the use of a 'ripening room' at his family's Escondido farm. The method, now an industry standard, allows markets to sell fruit that is ready to eat or close to it.
| work = Los Angeles Times
| access-date = 4 June 2013
| date = 3 June 2013
| url = http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-gil-henry-20130603,0,3688440.story
}}</ref> In some cases, avocados can be left on the tree for several months, which is an advantage to commercial growers who seek the greatest return for their crop, but if the fruit remains unpicked for too long, it falls to the ground.