Promising Comeback In Progress for Almond and Walnut Growers

It came as no surprise to see a small percentage of almond and walnut growers, 11% and 13% respectively, plan to decrease production this year, according to the 2025 State of the Fruit and Nut Industry Survey. Prices of these California nut crops have been generally depressed for some time. But it’s a wildly different result than when we launched the SOI survey a dozen years ago, when virtually no almond and walnut growers registered such results. (Editor’s note: For whatever reason, we did not hear back from enough pistachio growers this year to make their results statistically significant.)

There has been a rebound in almond and walnut prices lately, however, and the survey reflects the trend. Fully 36% of almond growers and 25% of walnut growers plan to increase production this year.

The comments growers made reflected the numbers. For those not planting, the reasons included “some marginal fields were removed,” and “will be used for future water credits.”

Though some are down, “another flat year would point toward pulling out the trees,” most are talking a wait and see approach: “Replanting into a different crop unknown at this time.”

Others are just making a transition: “We have already removed all of our walnut acreage in the last five years. We replaced the acreage with almond trees.”

---

RELATED CONTENT: Impressive Production Growth in 2025 California Almond Forecast

---

For others, it’s a timing issue.

“We’re borrowing money for this costly function,” the grower states. “We rotate the acreage right back to almond production.”

However, the majority of nut growers responding to the survey state they are maintaining the status quo. Typical answers: “I grow pistachios and don’t plan on pulling them out,” to “I see no reason to remove any of my trees at this time.”

---

Click here to check out more insights from the 2025 State of the Fruit and Nut Industry report.