BY CHING LEE
AgAlert
Despite economic challenges for those in the almond business, the Almond Board of California painted an optimistic outlook for the industry, emphasizing the organization’s ongoing efforts to build demand for the nut by easing trade barriers and making new strides in marketing, innovation and research.
In a presentation about the state of the industry during the 2024 Almond Conference in Sacramento last week, President and CEO Clarice Turner said the board is “confident that better days lie ahead.” She noted “tangible signs” of robust demand for almonds, with the industry having shipped more than 200 million pounds of the nut for 11 straight months.
The sector also sold 300 million pounds more than growers produced last year, marking “the largest swing in our entire history,” with carryover inventory down to less than 500 million pounds—levels not seen since 2019, Turner said.
Even so, she acknowledged “we’re not out of the woods yet,” as the sector still faces headwinds and obstacles, including trade challenges related to tariffs. But she said the industry’s 170-year heritage illustrates “our ability to respond to changing circumstances,” which has been vital to its survival.
“History has shown us that periods of significant disruption inspire reinvention to overcome constraints and unlock new possibilities,” Turner said. “It requires resilience, creativity and thinking differently to prevail.”
With the state’s nonbearing almond acreage about 60% of its peak in 2021, Chad Derose, CEO of Famoso Nut Co. in Kern County, said he thinks bearing acreage will be more stable going forward. If acreage shifts more to the North State, where almonds are more prone to adverse weather, especially frost during bloom, there could be “a lot of volatility” in supply year to year, he warned, with average yields across the state declining slightly.
Whereas the 2023 crop year saw larger California inventories and increased global production, with overseas buyers adopting a hand-to-mouth purchasing strategy in hopes of getting better prices, Neil Zacky, who sells and buys tree nuts for Derco Foods in Fresno, said the reduced inventory this year has had “noticeable impact on the market.” He said buyers not only quickly entered the market to buy the new crop, but they purchased it for longer periods, strengthening the market.
Mike Fenn, who handles sales for the Almond Co. in Madera, highlighted export destinations where almonds have done well. The Middle East, for example, has increased shipments by 41%. Southeast Asia, which purchased 36% more in 2023, has further increased shipments this year by 56%.
Results from a study by the consulting firm Deloitte made clear that the almond board should double down on core markets such as the U.S. and India while developing long-term growth markets such as Turkey, Morocco and Indonesia. It should also increase the use of almonds as an ingredient and innovate new uses for the nut, the study suggested.
Turner said innovation has been “a tremendous focus” for the almond board, which created a group of food industry experts tasked with exploring new uses for almonds beyond traditional applications such as flour, oil, butter, paste, hulls and shells. Almonds last year showed up in 14,000 new products around the world, she pointed out.
Noting that health remains the top reason people eat almonds, Turner said the almond board is “turning up the volume” on promoting the nutritional benefits of the nut. In addition to targeting health professionals, dieticians, schools, nutritionists and influencers, the board has been educating chefs on the various forms of almonds, how to use them and “the positive impact that they can have on human health and the environment when they include almonds in whatever they’re making,” she said.
“We are on a mission to ensure the world knows just how nutritionally dense our little kernels are,” Turner said, pointing to the global “food is medicine” movement and the marketplace’s desire for healthy snacking and “cleaner” ingredients. Almonds, she added, are well positioned to grow with consumers’ changing diet preferences, including gluten-free, keto and plant-based—dietary trends that have become mainstream.
“We’re working very hard to tailor our marketing efforts so we can leverage those shifts and invest accordingly,” Turner said.
Josette Lewis, the almond board’s chief science officer, noted more than 60% of the board’s media coverage this year highlighted the health benefits of eating almonds. In addition to three studies that show almonds improve muscle recovery, the board brought together leading experts from around the world to review 30 years of almond board research on cardiometabolic health. Their response was consistent: Almonds benefit heart health, blood pressure and gut health, Lewis said.
Recognizing the health benefits of almonds, the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the first time included almond products in its guidelines for the Women, Infants and Children program, or WIC, thanks to efforts by the almond board and Almond Alliance.
“We’ve seen great results with this work, and it continues to open doors for us,” Lewis said.
The almond board continues to promote the nut’s environmental stewardship story by highlighting the crop’s positive carbon footprint, so that consumers and the government “understand and see almonds as a solution, not the problem,” Turner said. California almond trees collectively have captured 30 million metric tons of carbon from the air, she noted.
“It’s like taking 24 million cars off the road,” Turner said. “That’s all the passenger cars in California, Oregon, Washington and Texas combined.”
Rather than being on the defensive, Lewis said the board has been talking about the work growers do, including whole orchard recycling and how they’re leading in the use of climate-smart and regenerative practices. The board continues to use scientific research to “turn the tide on misinformation” about almonds by highlighting grower efforts to increase pollinator biodiversity and correcting misconceptions about the crop’s water usage, Lewis added.
To advance a favorable trade environment for California almonds, Julie Adams, the almond board’s vice president of global technical and regulatory affairs, said the group has focused its time and resources in markets with technical trade barriers. She noted how the board’s work resulted in the United Kingdom approving a tariff suspension for almonds.
Adams said U.S. government trade experts look to the almond board as a trusted resource to provide data on how tariffs and other technical trade issues impact growers and handlers.
Brandon Rebiero of Gold Leaf Farming, which has orchards in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, stressed the importance of farmers telling their stories to “humanize that data.”
“We’re the ones who can explain what’s actually happening in the field, not some macro theory,” he said.
In meeting with policymakers, Rebiero said, “you can’t just go in and have a complaint session.” Even though lawmakers and government officials care about grower strife, “they care even more about the downstream impact” on communities “because it simply touches more constituents,” he added. With the “great reputation” the almond board already has in Washington, D.C., Rebiero said growers must stay engaged and be persistent so that they remain top of mind.
“We just have to keep the foot on the gas,” he said. “It’s really all about the relationships at the end of the day.”
— Courtesy of the California Farm Bureau.
