Almonds are the #3 agricultural crop in California at $5.03 billion. That’s behind dairy products at $7.57 billion, and grapes at $5.23 billion.
But, for the first time in 25 years, almond acreage in California decreased, according to the Almond Board of California’s Land IQ Report in November 2022. A new report will release on April 27, 2023, with more accurate information regarding orchard removals done after the 2022 almond harvest.
Total standing acreage as of November 2022 was estimated at 1.64 million acres, compared with 1.66 million acres at the same time in 2021. Bearing acres – orchards producing almonds and planted in 2019 or earlier – increased slightly to 1.34 million from 1.31 million last year. But non-bearing acres – new plantings going back to 2020 but not yet bearing almonds – dropped to 294,000 acres from 353,000 acres in 2021.
According to the November 2022 Report:
18% of California’s almond orchards were 1-3 years old
42% were between 4 and 10 years old
30% were between 11 and 20 years old
5% were between 21 and 25 years old
5% were over 25 years old
Quick Statistics:
The almond industry provides 110,000 jobs in California
More than 90% of almond farms are family-owned
Farmers have reduced the amount of water needed for growing a pound of almonds over the last 20 years by 33%
There are roughly 7,600 almond farms in California
Almond trees are the first pollinate each year
