Almond Living Magazine

Seven Ways Almonds Provide Value for Californians

If you’ve been following the media conversation about California’s drought recently, you’ve probably seen discussion about how much water agriculture – and almonds specifically – use. One thing you don’t see as much of, though, is discussion about what value almonds provide in return for that water, which is not more than the amount needed to grow many other crops.

2014 NASS Almond Acreage Survey

Today, the National Agricultural Statistical Survey from the USDA reported an increase in almond acreage. From the outside looking in, increasing acreage may seem counterintuitive to the current drought challenges facing our state. There are, however, a couple of facts that are key to understanding this report and what it means for our state's most precious resource. It is important...

LA Times Meets Almond Growers, Corrects “Profoundly Misleading” Coverage

In her April 16 commentary, Los Angeles Times writer Robin Abcarian pushed back hard against the wave of California drought media reports unfairly and incorrectly targeting almonds. Her article headlined “Almonds, the demon of drought? Frustrated growers tell another story,” zeroes in on several original sources of inaccurate information about water used to grow almonds that have been repeated frequently...

The Water (Research) Pipeline

For almond growers, responsible stewardship of the environment is an everyday consideration, but since today is Earth Day, it?s a chance to step back and reflect a bit on where we are today and where we?re going. With California in the midst of a devastating drought, we?re putting a special focus on our efforts to conserve water this year.

The Latest News on Almonds and Water

Here in California we?re in the midst of a historic drought, so all of us are thinking more than usual about how we can be most efficient with our water use. The water required to grow almonds, an important crop in California, has become part of the discussion. Here?s the latest news.

Almonds Use 13% of California's Irrigated Farmland, But Just 9% of California's Agricultural Water

As we?ve discussed here on the blog before, there is a myth circulating about California almonds -- that growing them requires 10 percent of California?s total developed water. Alarming, right?