California's total almond acreage dropped again in 2024, marking the third consecutive year of decline, a trend not seen since at least 1995, according to a new report from Land IQ to the Almond Board of California (ABC).
Total acreage dropped by about 16,187 hectares from 631,744 hectares in the last crop year to just over 615,557 hectares in 2024. Bearing hectares – orchards producing almonds and planted in 2021 or earlier – increased by the smallest amount in more than two decades, just 3,642 hectares. The total of bearing hectares during the 2024 growing season was 559,720 hectares compared with 556,078 hectares at this time last year.
However, the amount of non-bearing hectares – new orchards planted in 2022, 2023, or 2024 – fell by approximately 19,020 hectares, from 76,493 hectares in 2023 to 57,473 hectares in 2024, according to the Land IQ 2024 Standing Acreage Final Estimate.
"Three straight years of decreased acreage and sizeable orchard removals reflect a trend toward lower overall California almond acreage," said Clarice Turner, ABC president and CEO. "At the same time, we continue to see strong shipments – in the past crop year, for the first time ever, we shipped more than 200 million pounds in 11 consecutive months. Additionally, for the year, we shipped 300 million pounds more than we produced. We know global demand for California almonds continues to grow and that almonds will continue to play a very significant role in California and global agriculture and food industries for the foreseeable future."
There were significant orchard removals again in 2024, totaling almost 27,114 hectares. These add to the 33,590 hectares removed in 2023 and 24,435 hectares removed in 2022, according to the accompanying Land IQ 2023 Removal Update. Those removals, along with the decreasing amount of non-bearing hectares, or new plantings, contribute to the likelihood of fewer hectares over the next few years, Turner said.
In addition, slightly more than 12,141 hectares are classified as either stressed or abandoned. They were included in the standing acreage total because the orchards "may have the ability to recover," Land IQ said.
The estimates are based on multiple lines of evidence, including agronomic and remote sensing knowledge, robust on-the-ground verification, customized image analysis, artificial intelligence, and more. Land IQ said the 2024 standing acreage estimate is 98.8 percent accurate.
The report also noted that the slight change in the amount of bearing hectares from the April initial estimate – which was labeled as exactly that, the initial accounting – resulted from Land IQ crews in the orchards identifying additional bearing hectares, and because removals were overestimated in April by about 1,618 hectares.
For more information:
Rick Kushman
Almond Board of California
Tel: +1 (916) 716-9900
Email: [email protected]
www.almonds.com