- A historic drought across the U.S. West is severely affecting California’s $6 billion almond industry, which produces roughly 80 percent of the world’s almonds
- An increasing number of growers are expected to abandon their orchards, as water becomes scarce and expensive, said industry officials
- As the drought drains reservoirs that supply water to Central Valley farms and Gov. Gavin Newsom calls on residents to voluntarily reduce water use by 15 percent, critics say almonds are no longer sustainable at current levels in California
FIREBAUGH, California: A historic drought across the U.S. West is severely affecting California’s $6 billion almond industry, which produces roughly 80 percent of the world’s almonds.
An increasing number of growers are expected to abandon their orchards, as water becomes scarce and expensive, said industry officials.
Almond orchards are considered thirsty crops that need water year-round, clashing with a worsening drought and intensifying heat waves tied to climate change.
“We may have to sacrifice one of the almond orchards at the end of the year, if we feel that we don’t have enough water next year,” said farmer Joe Del Bosque, who is practicing “deficit irrigation” in California’s agriculture-rich San Joaquin Valley. “That means that our huge investment that we put in these trees is gone.”
California almond production grew from 370 million pounds in 1995 to a record 3.1 billion pounds in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. During that period, land planted with almond trees grew from 756 square miles to 2,500 square miles.
“A lot of growers are having to go through a stressful time to make the water they have last to keep their trees alive,” said Richard Waycott, president and CEO of the Almond Board of California, which represents more than 7,600 growers and processors, as quoted by the Associated Press.
Almonds are California’s top agricultural export. The industry ships about 70 percent of its almonds overseas, fueled by strong demand in India, East Asia and Europe, according to the board.
The almond boom has run into the second major drought that California has declared in a decade.
As the drought drains reservoirs that supply water to Central Valley farms and Gov. Gavin Newsom calls on residents to voluntarily reduce water use by 15 percent, critics say almonds are no longer sustainable at current levels in California.
“If we’re conserving in the cities so that they can grow more almonds, it’s simply not fair because it’s not benefiting the majority of Californians,” said Tom Stokely, a board member for the California Water Impact Network, a nonprofit group that advocates for sustainable water use.
Stokely believes the state should ban permanent crops like almond orchards in areas that don’t have adequate water supplies.
“With the climate change, the drought, the heat waves we’re having, something’s going to change very quickly or we’re going to literally see our state collapse,” Stokely said. “We need to do something about it,” as reported by the Associated Press.
