If you are in the business of growing avocados, life is just the pits.

That’s what top producers and distributors say about this year’s California crop, the third year in a row that Golden State avocado production has failed to live up to fast-growing demand for guacamole and fast-Mex fare.

Experts like John Krist, head of the Ventura County Farm Bureau, trace this year’s lack of fruit to a heat wave last spring that killed off blossoms before they were fertilized to produce fruit.

“We have great looking trees. We just don’t have a lot of fruit,” said Harold Edwards, President and CEO of Santa Paula-based Limoneira Co. He told investors at the company’s annual meeting that this year’s production will be just 1 million pounds of fruit, down from 18 million at the 2006 peak.

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