diff --git a/avro/pom.xml b/avro/pom.xml
index 248165542..176d1a41f 100644
--- a/avro/pom.xml
+++ b/avro/pom.xml
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@ abstractions.
   </properties>
 
   <dependencies>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
+      <artifactId>jackson-annotations</artifactId>
+    </dependency>
     <!--  Hmmh. Need databind for Avro Schema generation... -->
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
@@ -32,13 +36,7 @@ abstractions.
       <version>1.7.7</version>
     </dependency>
 
-     <!-- and for testing we need annotations -->
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
-      <artifactId>jackson-annotations</artifactId>
-      <scope>test</scope>
-    </dependency>
-    <!-- plus logback -->
+    <!-- and for testing we need logback -->
     <dependency>
       <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId>
       <artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId>
diff --git a/avro/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/AvroAnnotationIntrospector.java b/avro/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/AvroAnnotationIntrospector.java
index c314a84d1..d56f23347 100644
--- a/avro/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/AvroAnnotationIntrospector.java
+++ b/avro/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/AvroAnnotationIntrospector.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.avro;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.Version;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.AnnotationIntrospector;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.PropertyName;
@@ -9,6 +10,7 @@
 import org.apache.avro.reflect.AvroDefault;
 import org.apache.avro.reflect.AvroIgnore;
 import org.apache.avro.reflect.AvroName;
+import org.apache.avro.reflect.Nullable;
 
 /**
  * Adds support for the following annotations from the Apache Avro implementation:
@@ -18,6 +20,7 @@
  * <li>{@link AvroDefault @AvroDefault("default value")} - Alias for <code>JsonProperty.defaultValue</code>, to
  *     define default value for generated Schemas
  *   </li>
+ * <li>{@link Nullable @Nullable} - Alias for <code>JsonProperty(required = false)</code></li>
  * </ul>
  *
  * @since 2.9
@@ -57,4 +60,18 @@ protected PropertyName _findName(Annotated a)
         AvroName ann = _findAnnotation(a, AvroName.class);
         return (ann == null) ? null : PropertyName.construct(ann.value());
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public Boolean hasRequiredMarker(AnnotatedMember m) {
+        if (_hasAnnotation(m, Nullable.class)) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        // Appears to be a bug in POJOPropertyBuilder.getMetadata()
+        // Can't specify a default unless property is known to be required or not, or we get an NPE
+        // If we have a default but no annotations indicating required or not, assume required.
+        if (_hasAnnotation(m, AvroDefault.class) && !_hasAnnotation(m, JsonProperty.class)) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/avro/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/schema/RecordVisitor.java b/avro/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/schema/RecordVisitor.java
index 7c73d84d4..8fa24fc9e 100644
--- a/avro/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/schema/RecordVisitor.java
+++ b/avro/src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/schema/RecordVisitor.java
@@ -1,14 +1,20 @@
 package com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.avro.schema;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.*;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.jsonFormatVisitors.JsonFormatVisitable;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.jsonFormatVisitors.JsonObjectFormatVisitor;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.BeanPropertyWriter;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.avro.AvroFixedSize;
-import org.apache.avro.Schema;
 
-import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.List;
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.apache.avro.Schema.Type;
+import org.codehaus.jackson.JsonNode;
+import org.codehaus.jackson.map.ObjectMapper;
 
 public class RecordVisitor
     extends JsonObjectFormatVisitor.Base
@@ -50,7 +56,9 @@ public Schema builtAvroSchema() {
     public void property(BeanProperty writer) throws JsonMappingException
     {
         Schema schema = schemaForWriter(writer);
-        _fields.add(new Schema.Field(writer.getName(), schema, null, null));
+        JsonNode defaultValue = parseJson(getProvider().getAnnotationIntrospector().findPropertyDefaultValue(writer.getMember()));
+        schema = reorderUnionToMatchDefaultType(schema, defaultValue);
+        _fields.add(new Schema.Field(writer.getName(), schema, null, defaultValue));
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -73,7 +81,9 @@ public void optionalProperty(BeanProperty writer) throws JsonMappingException {
         if (!writer.getType().isPrimitive()) {
             schema = AvroSchemaHelper.unionWithNull(schema);
         }
-        _fields.add(new Schema.Field(writer.getName(), schema, null, null));
+        JsonNode defaultValue = parseJson(getProvider().getAnnotationIntrospector().findPropertyDefaultValue(writer.getMember()));
+        schema = reorderUnionToMatchDefaultType(schema, defaultValue);
+        _fields.add(new Schema.Field(writer.getName(), schema, null, defaultValue));
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -120,4 +130,99 @@ protected Schema schemaForWriter(BeanProperty prop) throws JsonMappingException
         ser.acceptJsonFormatVisitor(visitor, prop.getType());
         return visitor.getAvroSchema();
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Parses a JSON-encoded string for use as the default value of a field
+     *
+     * @param defaultValue
+     *     Default value as a JSON-encoded string
+     *
+     * @return Jackson V1 {@link JsonNode} for use as the default value in a {@link Schema.Field}
+     *
+     * @throws JsonMappingException
+     *     if {@code defaultValue} is not valid JSON
+     */
+    protected JsonNode parseJson(String defaultValue) throws JsonMappingException {
+        if (defaultValue == null) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
+        try {
+            return mapper.readTree(defaultValue);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw JsonMappingException.from(getProvider(), "Unable to parse default value as JSON: " + defaultValue, e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * A union schema with a default value must always have the schema branch corresponding to the default value first, or Avro will print a
+     * warning complaining that the default value is not compatible. If {@code schema} is a {@link Schema.Type#UNION UNION} schema and
+     * {@code defaultValue} is non-{@code null}, this finds the appropriate branch in the union and reorders the union so that it is first.
+     *
+     * @param schema
+     *     Schema to reorder; If {@code null} or not a {@code UNION}, then it is returned unmodified.
+     * @param defaultValue
+     *     Default value to match with the union
+     *
+     * @return A schema modified so the first branch matches the type of {@code defaultValue}; otherwise, {@code schema} is returned
+     * unmodified.
+     */
+    protected Schema reorderUnionToMatchDefaultType(Schema schema, JsonNode defaultValue) {
+        if (schema == null || defaultValue == null || schema.getType() != Type.UNION) {
+            return schema;
+        }
+        List<Schema> types = new ArrayList<>(schema.getTypes());
+        Integer matchingIndex = null;
+        if (defaultValue.isArray()) {
+            matchingIndex = schema.getIndexNamed(Type.ARRAY.getName());
+        } else if (defaultValue.isObject()) {
+            matchingIndex = schema.getIndexNamed(Type.MAP.getName());
+            if (matchingIndex == null) {
+                // search for a record
+                for (int i = 0; i < types.size(); i++) {
+                    if (types.get(i).getType() == Type.RECORD) {
+                        matchingIndex = i;
+                        break;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        } else if (defaultValue.isBoolean()) {
+            matchingIndex = schema.getIndexNamed(Type.BOOLEAN.getName());
+        } else if (defaultValue.isNull()) {
+            matchingIndex = schema.getIndexNamed(Type.NULL.getName());
+        } else if (defaultValue.isBinary()) {
+            matchingIndex = schema.getIndexNamed(Type.BYTES.getName());
+        } else if (defaultValue.isFloatingPointNumber()) {
+            matchingIndex = schema.getIndexNamed(Type.DOUBLE.getName());
+            if (matchingIndex == null) {
+                matchingIndex = schema.getIndexNamed(Type.FLOAT.getName());
+            }
+        } else if (defaultValue.isIntegralNumber()) {
+            matchingIndex = schema.getIndexNamed(Type.LONG.getName());
+            if (matchingIndex == null) {
+                matchingIndex = schema.getIndexNamed(Type.INT.getName());
+            }
+        } else if (defaultValue.isTextual()) {
+            matchingIndex = schema.getIndexNamed(Type.STRING.getName());
+            if (matchingIndex == null) {
+                // search for an enum
+                for (int i = 0; i < types.size(); i++) {
+                    if (types.get(i).getType() == Type.ENUM) {
+                        matchingIndex = i;
+                        break;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        if (matchingIndex != null) {
+            types.add(0, types.remove((int)matchingIndex));
+            Map<String, JsonNode> jsonProps = schema.getJsonProps();
+            schema = Schema.createUnion(types);
+            // copy any properties over
+            for (String property : jsonProps.keySet()) {
+                schema.addProp(property, jsonProps.get(property));
+            }
+        }
+        return schema;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/avro/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/interop/annotations/AvroDefaultTest.java b/avro/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/interop/annotations/AvroDefaultTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bc2e3c56b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/avro/src/test/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/dataformat/avro/interop/annotations/AvroDefaultTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+package com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.avro.interop.annotations;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.avro.interop.ApacheAvroInteropUtil;
+
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.apache.avro.reflect.AvroDefault;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+public class AvroDefaultTest {
+    static class RecordWithDefaults {
+        @AvroDefault("\"Test Field\"")
+        public String stringField;
+        @AvroDefault("1234")
+        public Integer intField;
+        @AvroDefault("true")
+        public Integer booleanField;
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testUnionBooleanDefault() {
+        Schema apacheSchema = ApacheAvroInteropUtil.getApacheSchema(RecordWithDefaults.class);
+        Schema jacksonSchema = ApacheAvroInteropUtil.getJacksonSchema(RecordWithDefaults.class);
+        //
+        assertThat(jacksonSchema.getField("booleanField").defaultValue()).isEqualTo(apacheSchema.getField("booleanField").defaultValue());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testUnionIntegerDefault() {
+        Schema apacheSchema = ApacheAvroInteropUtil.getApacheSchema(RecordWithDefaults.class);
+        Schema jacksonSchema = ApacheAvroInteropUtil.getJacksonSchema(RecordWithDefaults.class);
+        //
+        assertThat(jacksonSchema.getField("intField").defaultValue()).isEqualTo(apacheSchema.getField("intField").defaultValue());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testUnionStringDefault() {
+        Schema apacheSchema = ApacheAvroInteropUtil.getApacheSchema(RecordWithDefaults.class);
+        Schema jacksonSchema = ApacheAvroInteropUtil.getJacksonSchema(RecordWithDefaults.class);
+        //
+        assertThat(jacksonSchema.getField("stringField").defaultValue()).isEqualTo(apacheSchema.getField("stringField").defaultValue());
+    }
+}