California’s almond acreage declined in 2022 for the first time in 25 years.
It reflects an increase in the removal of orchards and a decrease in the planting of new acreage. Orchard removal areas accelerated in areas where growers were faced with water delivery cutbacks.
As such, they removed older orchards several years ahead of when they normally would in order to keep younger plantings alive that by nature of their age have more remaining years of strong yields.
In a few instances, growers were completely cut off from water forcing them to pull out all of their orchards.
According to the California Almond Board, an almond orchard generally stays in place for 25 to 30 years before it is removed.
An almond tree hits a plateau for nut production around 15 years. It starts declining after that.
San Joaquin County — the No. 6 largest almond producing county in the state — has bucked the trend.
Some of that has to do with the fact growers aren’t reliant on State Water Project or Central Valley Water Project deliveries.
And although they were impacted by the drought, water was much more secure in the county, especially for growers within the South San Joaquin Irrigation District.
The SSJID has roughly 35,100 acres of planted almonds that its water irrigates. Altogether, there are 56,000 acres irrigated with SSJID water
San Joaquin County has roughly 110,000 acres of almonds with near 500 separate operations of which virtually every one is a family-owned concern.
Reports released Thursday by Land IQ and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Agricultural Statistics Service said total almond acreage in 2022, which includes non-bearing trees, was estimated at 1.63 million, down from 1.65 million in 2021, a drop up 1.2 percent,
The report looked at bearing acreage – orchards planted before 2021 and that have matured enough to produce a crop for the coming harvest of the 2023-24 crop year. It estimated that bearing almond orchards at harvest will cover 1.366 million acres across California, an increase of 24,000 acres – or about 1.7% – over 2022’s 1.342 million acres.
In addition, the report estimates about 77,700 acres of orchards will be removed by Aug. 31, 2023, about 17,300 acres more – approximately 29% – than the 60,400 acres removed by the end of August 2022.
“These reports show a faster pace of removals and slower growth in bearing acreage, possibly signaling a trend towards lower California almond acreage for a while,” said Richard Waycott, Almond Board president and CEO. “On the other hand, we’re seeing record shipments in recent months as logistical issues are being resolved, so we know global demand for California almonds continues to grow and there’s no doubt that almonds will continue to have a very significant role in California and global agriculture.”
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
