Interesting article on Almonds

[Kentuck]

A billion pounds of California almonds stranded at ports amid drought, trade woes

As almond growers use increasingly scarce and expensive water to irrigate this year's crop, over a billion pounds of nuts remain stranded in port.

www.latimes.com

 

[Brottboss]

At 1,900gal/lb do the math.
Pretty substantial IMO.

 

[Speckslayer]

At 1,900gal/lb do the math.
Pretty substantial IMO.

From the article...."According to industry reports, almond orchards make up less than 13% of the state’s total irrigated farmlands and use only 9% of the state’s agricultural water." Looks like almonds use less water than the average crop!

And..."critics say, it still takes 1.1 gallons of water to grow an almond, and to grow a pound of almonds requires about 1,900 gallons of water." These people are idiots! Almonds take about 3.5 acre feet to grow which is about 1,140,000 gallons. Divide that by 1,900 gallons and you come up with 600 pounds of almonds/acre which is far from the truth. Or, using 1,900 gallons/lb multiplied by a more realistic 2,000 lbs equals over 11 acre feet of water per acre. It's just critics making up lies to get what they want.

 

[Calikev]

From the article...."According to industry reports, almond orchards make up less than 13% of the state’s total irrigated farmlands and use only 9% of the state’s agricultural water." Looks like almonds use less water than the average crop!

And..."critics say, it still takes 1.1 gallons of water to grow an almond, and to grow a pound of almonds requires about 1,900 gallons of water." These people are idiots! Almonds take about 3.5 acre feet to grow which is about 1,140,000 gallons. Divide that by 1,900 gallons and you come up with 600 pounds of almonds/acre which is far from the truth. Or, using 1,900 gallons/lb multiplied by a more realistic 2,000 lbs equals over 11 acre feet of water per acre. It's just critics making up lies to get what they want.

Problem is we are now farming for nuts in places that weren't in crops before. Lots of foothill land that was always natural non-irrigate winter range for cattle is now becoming almond orchards. Where is the water coming from? Thousands upon thousands of new acres of nut trees during a time we are getting less and less precipitation.

Bottom line is this has to stop. I've never liked being anti-farming as my livelihood depends on it but honestly if we don't put a moratorium on this we will make the Valley uninhabitable before too long.

 

[Speckslayer]

Problem is we are now farming for nuts in places that weren't in crops before. Lots of foothill land that was always natural non-irrigate winter range for cattle is now becoming almond orchards. Where is the water coming from? Thousands upon thousands of new acres of nut trees during a time we are getting less and less precipitation.

Bottom line is this has to stop. I've never liked being anti-farming as my livelihood depends on it but honestly if we don't put a moratorium on this we will make the Valley uninhabitable before too long.

Totally agree with you on this! I was just pointing out misinformation. What will happen to this valley is that most almonds and pistachios planted in areas with no surface water will get pulled out. That ground will return to native pasture (or solar in some places). Nut prices will then go up and more almonds/pistachios will be planted that will replace other crops like grapes, alfalfa, rice, prunes, and tree fruit.

I drove by a 40 acre block of oranges that were beautiful....last fall. They are almost totally dead now because the well went dry. The city owns them and isn't willing to spend the money to drill a new well and neither is the tenant.

 

[Calikev]

What will happen to this valley is that most almonds and pistachios planted in areas with no surface water will get pulled out. That ground will return to native pasture (or solar in some places).

Let's just hope the aquifers don't collapse long before this happens. Once that happens then pasture grasses may not even grow on this land. The entire hydrology will be jacked up permanently.

 

[Nocalhonker]

A lot of almonds up at north end of the valley were lost in the spring freeze.

 

[Speckslayer]

A lot of almonds up at north end of the valley were lost in the spring freeze.

Yep, and it was a great day for those farmers as long as they had good insurance! They'll make more money that those who didn't lose their crop.

 

[Ravenanme]

Yep just drove down Hwy 12 after visiting family outside of Fresno/Clovis .
What was a very nice looking block of almond trees , are being pulled out dead . Talking with a very knowledgeable Almond farmer , he is very worried
he will lose most of his trees because of , not only lack of underground water but the inflated cost for what water there is available ! Even the orange
trees are looking stressed along with the grapes . What's next , is the foresight of baren wasteland from Greed !

 

[California Flyway]

Folks went full bore planting Almonds through the drought. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. Big problem that you cannot fallow Almond trees.
Speckslayer, you know I can go into great detail on this issue if you want to run with it.