Ag Alert May 22, 2024

USDA: California almond crop may be second-largest

that the state’s bearing almond acreage decreased to 1.4 million acres, 600 fewer than last year. Turner outlined steps to grow markets for California’s $3.5 billion almond sector, including working to expand exports to India and key emerging markets, such as Indonesia, Turkey and Morocco. She also emphasized plans to develop and introduce more almond products, including oils, flours and pastas, for domestic consumers. “Demand for California almonds

around the globe continues to grow and our almond farmers constantly deliver on producing high-quality California al- monds to meet that demand,” Turner said. The USDA subjective almond produc- tion forecast is based on a survey of 500 growers and is conducted from April 19 to May 5. USDA’s 2024 California Almond Objective Report will be released July 10. This report is based on almond counts in some 1,000 orchards, using a more rigor- ous methodology to determine yield.

California’s 2024 almond crop is expect- ed to come in at 3 billion pounds, accord- ing to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service. In its California Almond Forecast pub- lished May 10, the agency said this year’s harvest is expected to be 21% more than the 2.47 billion pounds produced in 2023. Total statewide almond production of 3 billion pounds would be the second-larg- est crop on record, with the highest being 3.1 billion pounds in 2020. The almond crop benefited from largely favorable weather, with mild conditions in February and March that helped boost honeybee pollination, USDA said. The agency noted that growing condi- tions were mostly favorable early in the season. Wet weather and warmer tem- peratures in April increased pest and dis- ease pressures, but there was “minimal to no threat of frost damage.” In addition, water allocations for California almond growers were “not an issue for the second year in a row” after three years of drought. Almond yield this year is estimated at 2,170 pounds per acre, which is 380 pounds more per acre than last year’s yield, the report added. “This larger crop estimate is what the in- dustry expected after a productive bloom this spring,” Clarice Turner, president and CEO of the Almond Board of California, said in a statement. “But it is also a testa- ment to the hard work done by almond farmers throughout California during dif- ficult times.” California almond growers have faced economic challenges in the past few years as the almond price has fallen from nearly $4 a pound a decade ago, to $2 a pound or less.

Last year, total almond plantings in the state dropped from 1.64 million acres to 1.55 million acres, the second consecutive decline. But actual bearing acreage inched up slightly in 2023.

USDA’s almond crop forecast came two weeks after Land IQ released its estimate

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May 22, 2024 Ag Alert 5