I think most people around here growing avocados are doing it as a side gig. As in thry live on the ranch and pay others to manage the grove and they get a check each year. Not everyone but a lot of the groves are run that way. So its passive income for them they do little of their own work. That obviohsly eats way into your margins paying for water and labor and ultra low retail prices you get paid for fruit.
Im a nobody with a couple acres of trees trying to do it all cheap to make some beer money really. But ive seen others who have big groves who make money and also seen them lose money. My wife used to live on a property that her friends parents owned. The land had a mansion on it and 10 or so acres of hass trees. They paid people to do all the farm work and collected the check. They had other businesses like resturaunts and night clubs. They decided strip clubs were a good investment. Bought a strip club somewhere in Georgia I think it was and it ended up bankrupting them. They lost everything including the house in fallbrook and all the avocado trees.
Ive also seen people pickup 20-30 acres of old grove avocados that needed to be rehabilitated. They end up spending hundreds of thousands fixing all the old irrigation, wells, cutting down old sick treees, chipping it, and on and on and on and it becomes a giant money pit. Probably will not turn a profit or break even on those deals. And if you dont live on the property, its just an extra expense. If you at least live there, you have that to show for.
Then I know another guy with 100+ acres of trees, he has been doong it forever and makes $. Lives nearby and goes to work his orchards with a crew.
Lots of different approaches and outcomes.