This is the avocado commodity profile exemplar. It demonstrates the mixed authored + projected section model (Engineering Spec §3.4), full
EntityProfileContentfrontmatter (§3.3), confidence-stratified rendering markers (§3.5), typed wikilinks (§6.1), and fact citations against the knowledge-forge GDF v2.1.1 golden profile.The body is what the
commodity_profile_renderershould produce when readingknowledge.domain = commodity, key = avocado. Hand-written here to lock in the convention. Subsequent commodity profiles (mango, banana, potato, etc.) follow this exact shape — the renderer reads from the golden profile and emits the same structure.
Overview
Avocados are FIN’s #3 commodity by current volume — 8,855 cases across 6 sampled RP581 worksheets in early May 2026, $290K total wholesale value. Five active size variants (32, 36, 40, 48, 60 count) demonstrate the family→variant relationship clearly: the size code determines per-case price but not the underlying commodity profile.
Hass dominates global supply at 95% market share — when a receiver sees “AVOCADO 048” on an RP581, it’s effectively always Hass unless explicitly marked otherwise. Mexico (especially Michoacán) supplies the year-round bulk; California and Peru are seasonal supplements.
The operationally critical fact for receiving + QC: avocados are very-high ethylene producers AND moderately ethylene-sensitive. Co-loading with bananas, mangoes, or stone fruits accelerates ripening. Co-loading with leafy greens or citrus accelerates spoilage of the partners. The post-harvest section below has the full mixed-load compatibility group.
Identity & Botany
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Canonical name | Avocado |
| Scientific name | Persea americana |
| Family / Genus | Lauraceae / Persea |
| Produce category | Tropical Fruit |
| Produce subcategory | Subtropical Fruit |
| FSMA 204 covered? | No (avocados are not on the FSMA 204 Food Traceability List) |
| PLU — conventional | 4046 |
| PLU — organic | 94046 |
| AGROVOC URI | c_800 |
Source: knowledge.domain = commodity, key = avocado GDF v2.1.1 (s01_identity). External: FAO AGROVOC.
Varieties
Avocado has ~14 commercial cultivars; three carry the bulk of US trade.
| Variety | Market share | Size | Skin | Oil | Shelf life adjust | Shipping suitability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [[variety:hass|Hass]] | 95% | 5-8 oz | Dark purple-black pebbly when ripe | 18-22% | +5 days vs commodity baseline | international |
| Fuerte | 2% | 8-14 oz | Smooth green (stays green when ripe) | 12-17% | -3 days | regional |
| Bacon | 1% | 6-12 oz | Smooth thin green | 10-15% | -2 days | regional |
| Pinkerton, Reed, others | <2% combined | varies | varies | varies | varies | varies |
Operationally: if the inbound is unmarked, assume Hass. Use cultivar-specific shelf-life adjustments only when the variety is explicitly identified (e.g., RP581 description includes “FUERTE” or “BACON”).
Source: knowledge.domain = commodity, key = avocado GDF v2.1.1 (s04_varieties.variety_summaries).
Post-Harvest Handling
Temperature
- Chilling injury threshold: 38°F. Below this for >24h triggers grey-flesh / blackening defect on ripening.
- Freezing point: 31.5°F. Hard limit.
- Optimal storage: 40-45°F for ripe; 50-55°F for unripe transit.
Ethylene
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Production class | very_high |
| Production rate (20°C) | 100 μL/kg·hr typical (20-350 range) |
| Sensitivity class | moderate |
| Sensitivity threshold | 10 ppm |
| Climacteric? | Yes (post-harvest ripening continues) |
Agent note: Avocados produce extremely high ethylene during ripening. Segregate from ethylene-sensitive produce (leafy greens, herbs, broccoli, cucumbers). Can be intentionally triggered with 100 ppm ethylene at 68-77°F for 24-48 hrs to force uniform ripening — this is the standard ripening-room protocol. Pre-climacteric fruit produces <10 μL/kg·hr.
Mixed-load compatibility
Group E — High Ethylene Producers. Compatible with: bananas, mangoes, stone fruits, tomatoes, papayas (other Group E members). Incompatible with: lettuce, leafy herbs, cucumbers (cucumbers especially yellow rapidly under ethylene exposure).
Operational flags
- Can be top-iced? No (freezing risk + skin damage)
- Light-sensitive? No
- Handling urgency: 3 / 5 (moderate — work through within 5-7 days of arrival)
Source: knowledge.domain = commodity, key = avocado GDF v2.1.1 (s07_harvest_post_harvest, s28_transit_logistics).
Market Intelligence
Demand
- Trend: Strong upward — US per-capita consumption grew from 3.5 lbs (2001) to 9.0 lbs (2023). Drivers: health consciousness, foodservice (avocado toast, bowls), Hispanic-market growth.
- Price elasticity: -0.72 (relatively inelastic — demand holds even at higher prices)
- Income elasticity: 0.85 (income-elastic — discretionary purchase)
- Organic premium elasticity: -0.45 (organic buyers less price-sensitive within organic)
Pack sizes (standard)
- 25 lb carton (standard wholesale)
- 10 lb carton
- 2-layer flats (32-84 count by size)
- Single-layer flats (varies)
Common count codes
32 (jumbo), 36 (X-large), 40 (large), 48 (medium — most common retail), 60 (small), 70+ (snack).
Source: knowledge.domain = commodity, key = avocado GDF v2.1.1 (s09_market_intelligence).
Recent Arrivals (sampled)
Aggregated from 6 RP581 sample worksheets, May 2026:
| Variant | Cases | Brands seen |
|---|---|---|
| AVOCADO 048 (medium) | ~3,200 | (multi-brand) |
| AVOCADO 036 (large) | ~2,400 | (multi-brand) |
| AVOCADO 040 | ~1,800 | (multi-brand) |
| AVOCADO 060 (small) | ~900 | (multi-brand) |
| AVOCADO 032 (jumbo) | ~555 | (multi-brand) |
Average wholesale: **290,538 ÷ 8,855 cases).
Important: This section’s chart + table are projected from events only. The renderer rebuilds them on each lot.received or signal.pp_arrival_logged event affecting commodity=avocado. They are NOT hand-edited; any manual edit will be overwritten on next projection run.
Source: events where data->>'commodity_id' = 'avocado' OR description matches ^AVOCADO. Aggregation by commodity_recent_arrivals_renderer v1.0.0-exemplar.
Operator Notes
This section is human-authored. Anything that doesn’t fit a structured projection but is operationally useful goes here. Updated whenever insight emerges. Tenant-specific patterns (e.g. supplier-specific quirks) belong in the tenant intranet’s vendor_scorecard for the specific supplier, not in this Central canonical profile.
Open questions
- How much of our current avocado volume is Hass vs other? RP581 descriptions just say “AVOCADO ” — we should parse the brand to disambiguate.
- Is there a seasonal lull in Mexican supply? GDF says year-round but anecdotally there’s a Feb-Mar squeeze.
Provenance (renderer-added)
This doc was authored 2026-05-15 as the Tenant Zero entity_profile exemplar. The renderer-generated sections cite:
- GDF v2.1.1 source:
knowledge-forge/data/exports/avocado_adapted.json(3,210 attributes, 28 sections, 1,143 query patterns) - AGROVOC external: http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_800
- Recent arrivals events: 6 RP581 samples in
.artifacts/rp581-samples/aggregated byscripts/audit/rp581-commodity-rollup.ts
The full provenance chain for any specific claim can be walked via the walk_provenance MCP tool (Engineering Spec §8.12). Try:
walk_provenance(docId="commodity_profile_avocado", anchor="#post-harvest-handling")
→ Returns the event/knowledge/external chain that backs each fact.
Snapshot strategy
This is the current/live profile at docs/entity_profiles/commodities/avocado.md. Weekly snapshots accumulate at:
docs/entity_profiles/commodities/avocado/2026-W19.mddocs/entity_profiles/commodities/avocado/2026-W20.md- (etc.)
Federal evidence packs SHOULD cite snapshots, not this live doc, per Engineering Spec §11.6 — “what we knew in W19” stays addressable.