Tree Nuts Standing Out Among Latest California Crop Protection Intel
May 26, 2025 The early-season look at the California crop protection markets offers a mixed bag of results, based on data published within Meister Media’s PURE Intel™ platform through the first four months of the year. Overall, California farmers have reported 4% more applications and 4% more treated acres of restricted use products compared to the first four months of 2024. (It’s worth noting that 2024 figures through April were more than 15% ahead of 2023). However, nearly all of the 2025 growth thus far has occurred within the tree nuts category while treated acres in most of the other key product categories is flat to slightly down to 2024.
| Crop Group | Treated Acres through April | Treated Acres 2025 vs. 2024 |
| Tree nuts | 10.2 million | 19% |
| Grapes | 2.9 | -2% |
| Forage / Fodder | 2.6 | -10% |
| Citrus | 1.3 | 14% |
| Stone fruit | 1.1 | 9% |
| Leafy vegetables | 1.1 | -4% |
| Small fruit / Berries | .826 | -1% |
| Grains / Cereals | .813 | 0% |
| Root & tuber vegetables | .573 | -20% |
| Fruiting vegetables | .564 | -9% |
Overall, these top 10 crop groups accounted for 21.2 million treated acres through the first reporting of growers’ pesticide use reports (PURs) compared to 20.7 million treated acres in January – April of last year. Not surprisingly, almonds represent nearly all of the growth within the tree nuts category with roughly 1 million more treated acres to start 2025. This growth in almond applications has occurred primarily in fungicides and adjuvants although treated acres of herbicides have also climbed year over year.
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