Almond Acreage Up Slightly
April 30, 2014 California’s 2013 almond acreage is estimated at 940,000 acres, up 1% from the 2012 acreage of 930,000.
According to the Pacific Regional Office of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), which conducts an annual acreage survey of California almond growers, 840,000 acres were bearing and 100,000 acres were non-bearing. Preliminary bearing acreage for 2014 is estimated at 860,000 acres.
Nonpareil continued to be the leading variety, followed by Butte, Monterey, Carmel, and Padre.
Kern, Fresno, Stanislaus, Merced, and Madera were the leading counties. These five counties had 74% of the total bearing acreage.
The purpose of the survey is to provide annual almond acreage with information on new plantings and removals. It is a continuation of a long series of industry-funded almond acreage surveys.
USDA-NASS concedes the information isn’t perfect because a voluntary survey of approximately 6,000 almond growers is unlikely to ever attain 100% completeness, and it is difficult for USDA-NASS to detect growers that are planting almonds for the first time.
The detailed data reflects tree removals from more than 10,000 acres (mostly older trees) during the past 12 months. Of this number, a significant amount of acreage was harvested in 2013 prior to being pushed out, and that acreage has already been removed from the detailed data.
The major source of the almond detailed data was a questionnaire mailed to all almond growers included on the NASS data base. The mailing was made in early November 2013. The questionnaire contained previously reported crop, variety, and acreage information preprinted. Producers were asked to update the information with new plantings, removals, and any other corrections; new growers were mailed a blank questionnaire. Growers were given six weeks to respond by mail. Telephone and field follow-up was then undertaken. Data collection ended earlier this month.
To arrive at the estimated almond acreage, the NASS almond acreage data base was compared with pesticide application data maintained by County Agricultural Commissioners and the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.
Source: USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service
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