A new avocado variety that is the result of decades of painstaking tree breeding by UC Riverside agricultural scientists has been selected as one of TIME's 2023 Best Inventions, the international news outlet announced Tuesday, Oct. 24. This recognition comes just months after UCR released the variety, called the Luna UCR™, to commercial growers worldwide...

Mary Lu Arpaia and Eric Focht have bred avocado trees in association with the University of California, Riverside, for decades. In the video below, they describe their quest for a better avocado that resulted in the release this year of the Luna UCR™, a new variety that is the great-grandchild of the Hass. Speaking from...

UCR NEWS - A new avocado variety that’s more than a half-century in the making will soon be available to growers in the world marketplace. It’s called the Luna UCR™ and offers consumers great flavor, a rind that turns a tell-tale black when ripe, and high postharvest quality. Growers, meanwhile, will benefit from a smaller...

UCR OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIPS - The University of California, Riverside’s (UCR's) avocado scion breeding program began in the 1950’s and continues today under the guidance of Dr. Mary Lu Arpaia, Professor of Extension, Subtropical Horticulture. It has been a model avocado varietal breeding program worldwide and maintains one of the largest avocado germplasm collections...