Posts Tagged “California almond shipments”
California almond production in the 2022-2023 season is expected to drop 11%, according to the USDA.
California’s driest three-year period on record has spurred unprecedented cuts to usual water supplies, driving up costs. That’s forcing some producers to tear out orchards in favor of other crops, or simply stop watering trees.
California supplies 80% of the world’s almonds and volume is shrinking for the first time in over 25 years. This is the result of the state’s historic drought which is leading farmers to abandon orchards or forgo new plantings altogether.
The state had an estimated 1.64 million acres at the end of August, down slightly from a year earlier, according to the Almond Board of California. Further, the number of new trees planted from 2020 but are not yet bearing almonds fell 17%.
California is a huge nut-growing area –and Almonds are the earliest ones to shipped.
“This year’s crop is estimated to be 3 Billion pounds..”, according to Jake Samuel, CEO of Sunrise Fresh Dried Fruit, “This increase is attributed to a good bloom, favorable weather in February and a large number of younger orchards coming into full production –around 100,000 additional acres!”
Sunrise Fresh Dried Fruit, besides being a provider of premium dried fruits is also a grower of both California Almonds and Walnuts. In addition, Sunrise Fresh has developed snacks that use both dried cherries, almonds, walnuts and even pecans.
“ This year, we will harvest approximately 1 million lbs. of Almonds, followed immediately by 2 million pounds of Walnuts – and this year, it looks as though we will have some overlap –which is a challenge for the Crews.
Harvest 2020 has not been completely issue-free, as smoke from wildfires have lowered the ambient temperature, causing slower ripening. “This will not affect the Almond quality…” continued Samuel, “…but the lower orchard temperature will slow the drying process and lengthen the overall time of harvest.”
California almond shipments for the 2020 crop are predicted to increase 18 percent this year, totalling 3 billion pounds.
The USDA reports last year’s shipments was 2.55 billion pounds.
The Almond Board of California notes Domestic and export shipments are up so far this year and global demand stronger than ever. The average nut set per tree is 5,645, up 21 percent from the 2019 almond crop.
The Nonpareil average nut set is 5,621, up 27 percent from last year’s set. The average kernel weight for all varieties sampled was 1.51 grams, down 2 percent from the 2019 average weight.
Almond production and shipments original throughout California’s Central San Joaquin Valley.