Avocados have been a firm kitchen favourite for decades, beloved for their creamy texture and mild flavour. Baking Business sat down with Lorraine Stopford from Rocky Creek Orchards to learn just what a day on an avocado orchard looks like.

Can you tell us about Rocky Creek Orchards?

Rocky Creek Orchards is a family-owned horticultural, processing and packaging business operated by the Masasso family on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland.

We have been growing premium produce in the fertile North Queensland region for more than 90 years. Our founder, Lorenzo Masasso, believed in diversifying crops for both his farm and family’s benefit.

Rocky Creek Orchards was started by Lorenzo Masasso who emigrated from Italy in the 1920s. Even as a farmer, he had experienced food shortages in post-war Italy. Lorenzo moved to Australia in pursuit of opportunities to farm on a larger scale and provide for future generations.

Always growing a variety of crops, Lorenzo never focused on any one fruit in particular; reasoning that diversity in cropping would always provide food for the family and be a solid business strategy.

This continues in the present day as we endeavour to grow a variety of crops, always with a focus on the best eating varieties of every produce line grown.

Where is Rocky Creek Orchards located?

Rocky Creek Orchards is a horticultural business located in Far North Queensland. Our operations are spread over two local government areas – Tablelands Regional Council and Mareeba Shire Council. Our closest city is Cairns.

Far North Queensland is a unique part of Australia, with landscapes varying from the World Heritage Daintree Rainforest and breathtaking waterfalls, to productive agricultural farms and cattle properties.

Tropical North Queensland is a renowned fruit growing region. We have the ability to produce many types of fruits and vegetables thanks to the several micro-climates across the region.

Avocados on the tree at Rocky Creek Orchards

 What does a day on an avocado orchard look like?

It is currently Shepard avocado season at the farm.

Harvest time on a Shepard avocado orchard begins early. The cooler morning temperatures are ideal for both the fruit and the harvest crew.

Pickers move steadily down the rows of avocado trees, carefully selecting fruit and clipping each avocado by hand to protect the skin and stem. Shepard avocados are known for their smooth green skin, and careful handling is essential to maintain their quality. Harvest bags fill quickly and are emptied into field bins waiting between the rows.

Before harvest begins, we check fruit maturity through dry matter testing to ensure the avocados have developed the rich, creamy eating quality consumers expect. Harvesting at the right maturity is one of the most important steps in producing high-quality fruit.

As the morning progresses, tractors and trailers move the filled bins out of the orchard and transport them to the packing shed. Here the fruit is graded, sorted and packed ready for market. Each avocado is checked for quality before being packed into trays or cartons destined for wholesalers and retailers across the country.

While harvest is the most visible activity, there is always more happening behind the scenes on an avocado orchard. Growers monitor irrigation, check tree health, manage nutrition programs and plan the next stages of orchard care to ensure the trees remain productive for future seasons.

By late afternoon the bins harvested that day are stacked neatly in the shed, ready to begin their journey to market. From tree to tray, the process reflects months of careful orchard management and a commitment to delivering fresh, high-quality Shepard avocados.

Avocados ready to go to market

Can you tell us about the production process of growing avocadoes? When is the growing season? What does harvest look like?

There are two main avocado varieties grown in North Queensland – Shepard avocado and Hass avocado. North Queensland is the second largest avocado-growing region in Australia, with production occurring across a range of tropical and subtropical climates.

Avocado production is a year-round process. Trees flower in spring, and fruit develops over many months before reaching maturity. Growers manage orchards through irrigation, nutrition, pruning, and pest and disease monitoring to ensure healthy tree growth and good fruit quality.

The harvest season in North Queensland begins with Shepard avocados. Shepard avocados typically reach the correct maturity for harvesting from late February through to the end of April. Growers test fruit for dry matter to ensure it has reached the correct maturity before picking, which helps guarantee good eating quality for consumers.

North Queensland Hass harvest typically begins in May and continues through to August. Harvesting is done by hand, with pickers carefully clipping Shepard avocados and plucking Hass from the trees and placing into picking bags before transferring to field bins.

At Rocky Creek Orchards, we offer a contract packing service and pack avocados for around 25 farming families. Fruit comes to our packing facility from a range of growing areas and climates. After harvest, avocados are graded, packed and prepared for distribution to both wholesale and retail markets.

Through this staggered production and harvest window, we are able to supply fresh North Queensland avocados from late February through to the end of August.

Harvesting at Rocky Creek Orchards

On average how many avocadoes do you harvest each year?

On average we harvest around 4.5 thousand tons of avocado each year.

What’s one thing people need to keep in mind when selecting avocadoes to work with in the kitchen?

The most important thing is to make sure the fruit has been harvested at the correct maturity. Avocados don’t ripen properly if they’re picked too early. Reputable growers test the dry matter of the fruit before harvest to ensure it will ripen well and develop good flavour and texture in the kitchen.

The key is ripeness. A good avocado should yield slightly to gentle pressure but not feel soft or mushy. If it’s rock hard it needs time to ripen; if it’s very soft it may be overripe.

You also grow a number of other produce lines. What do you grow, and why do they work well growing together?

At Rocky Creek we grow four produce lines – avocado, passionfruit, mango and lychee. These crops complement each other well, allowing the business to keep our core group of staff employed year-round, with seasonal workers brought in to support peak harvest periods.