Help Guide ABC Nutrition Research

The Nutrition Research Committee (NRC) at the Almond Board of California is looking to fill an empty member seat to help guide the strategic direction of ABC’s nutrition research program, review research proposals and monitor progress of active projects.

“It is critical to have a full committee comprised of individuals with a variety of backgrounds and perspectives to ensure that we are focusing on the most impactful research efforts that will add to the scientific evidence base on the health benefits of almonds and benefit the almond industry,” said Elena Hemler, ABC’s associate director of nutrition research.

The committee is comprised of seven members and three alternates, consisting of food and nutrition scientists, almond growers and other almond industry representatives. The research that the NRC helps guide will continue to bolster the existing body of almond science that serves as the backbone of global marketing strategies.

Past research projects have focused on the relationship between consumption of almonds and heart health, diabetes, weight management, gut health and other health outcomes. However, Hemler said that focus is shifting into new areas such as exercise performance and mental health and it’s an exciting time to help council the change. “We are currently re-vamping our nutrition strategy for the next few years. Committee members will play a critical role in shaping this strategy and the research areas we plan to focus on. This strategy will help us to prioritize nutrition research efforts based on their marketing potential and nutrition relevance, to ensure that we are maximizing our investments by only focusing on the highest-impact projects that will benefit the almond industry.”

Nutrition research has long been a cornerstone of ABC’s work, contributing not only to our knowledge about almonds and their impact on human health but also to ABC’s ability to communicate almond’s health benefits globally. Since 1995, the Nutrition Research Committee has been helping ABC fund and manage a broad portfolio of research projects.

Members of the Nutrition Research Committee will be expected to attend approximately four 6-hour meetings per year, with a maximum of 2 hours of prep work per meeting. The meetings are held in-person in Modesto, CA and virtually. Members of the NRC also typically attend the Almond Conference in Sacramento (December 5-7, 2023).

Interested parties can read more about the committee member position and submit a Statement of Interest online.

California Ag Today2023-03-30T08:41:24-07:00March 30th, 2023|

NASS Forecasts Smaller Almond Crop for 2022

Objective Forecast predicts harvest 2022 will be down 11 percent from last year.

By The Almond Board of California

The 2022 California Almond Objective Measurement Report published Friday, July 8, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates that the crop harvested in 2022 will come in at 2.6 billion meat pounds, 11 percent below last year’s 2.9 billion pounds.

The estimate is down 7 percent from NASS’s subjective forecast in May and comes in a complicated year. Some growers were impacted by frost in spring while the entire almond industry, and all California farmers, have been navigating a difficult water year and continued logistical issues impacting the ability to ship almonds to meet consumer demand around the world.

“Growers have been working hard in the face of challenging circumstances and it demonstrates their dedication to improving stewardship practices and meeting the demands of consumers,” said Brian Wahlbrink, chair of the Almond Board of California (ABC) Board of Directors.

The forecast for the average nut set per tree is 4,082, 12 percent down from 2021. The Nonpareil average nut set of 3,966 is also 12 percent lower than last year. The average kernel weight for all varieties sampled was 1.47 grams, up less than 1 percent from the 2021 average weight. The Nonpareil average kernel weight was 1.55 grams, up slightly from last year.

“Despite the shipping and logistical logjams, recent shipment numbers have set monthly records, which demonstrates the demand for California almonds continues to increase in the U.S. and around the world,” said Almond Board President and CEO Richard Waycott. “Almond growers are putting what resources they can afford this year into producing their crop, and their efforts show. Although there was a drop from last year, the forecast reflects the efforts of growers to meet global demand and ensure a steady supply of high quality California almonds.”

ABC’s April and May 2022 Position Reports showed that almond exports set records for both months, even while facing shipping and logistical obstacles, and total almond shipments in May also set a record.

NASS conducts the annual Subjective Forecast, Objective Report and Acreage Report to provide the California almond industry with the data needed to make informed business decisions. Of the crop estimates, the 2022 California Almond Objective Report is considered the more accurate and is based on actual almond counts using a statistically rigorous methodology.

California Ag Today2022-07-11T11:16:45-07:00July 11th, 2022|

Almond Board of California 2022 Elections Underway

Voting Began April 21

Voting began recently to select two independent grower positions and one independent handler position on the Almond Board of California (ABC) Board of Directors. Alternate seats for those spots are also open. Voting ends May 26.

Candidates for the independent grower positions:

Grower Position One, Member (1-year term): Grower Position One, Alternate:

Paul Ewing, Los Banos (incumbent) Brian Wahlbrink, Sonora (petitioner)

Katie Staack-Dorsett, Waterford (petitioner)

Grower Position Two, Member (3-year term): Position One, Alternate

Brandon Rebiero, Modesto (petitioner) Michael O’Banion, Firebaugh (petitioner)

Lee Erickson, Madera (petitioner)

Candidates for the independent handler positions:

Handler Position Three, Member (1-year term): Handler Position Three, Alternate:

Darren Rigg, Le Grand (incumbent) Chad DeRose, McFarland (incumbent)

Jonathan Hoff, Denair (petitioner)

Spencer Birch, Wasco (petitioner

Ballots and instructions have been mailed to all independent growers and handlers whose names are on file with ABC. Ballots must be received by ABC by May 26. Any independent grower or handler who does not receive a ballot can contact Toni Arellano at tarellano@almondboard.com.

“Every vote is important,” said ABC President and CEO Richard Waycott. “More than 7,600 growers and 100 handlers count on the Board of Directors to guide the work of the Almond Board and to help the industry navigate these complicated times.”

The ABC board, made up of five handler and five grower representatives, sets policy and recommends budgets in major areas, including marketing, production research, public relations and advertising, nutrition research, statistical reporting, quality control and food safety.

Results will be announced June 1 and the new board will start its term Aug. 1.

California Ag Today2022-04-27T13:30:52-07:00April 27th, 2022|

New Board of Directors Elected at Almond Board

Almond Board of California 2021 Election Results

The Almond Board of California (ABC) has released election results for the Board of Directors positions whose terms of office begin August 1, 2021. As a governing body for the industry, the ABC Board of Directors is comprised of five handler and five grower representatives who set policy and recommend budgets in several major areas, including production research, public relations and advertising, nutrition research, statistical reporting, quality control and food safety.

The names of the following nominees have been submitted to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for selection:

Independent Grower

Member Position One (one-year term):

Paul Ewing, Los Banos

Alternate Position One:

Brandon Rebiero, Modesto

Member Position Three (three-year term):

Joe Gardiner, Earlimart

Alternate Position Three:

Chris Bettencourt, Westley

Independent Handler

Member Position Two (three-year term):

Bob Silveira, Williams

Alternate Position Two:

Dexter Long, Ballico

Member Position Three (one-year term):

Darren Rigg, Le Grand

Alternate Position Three:

Chad DeRose, McFarland

Cooperative Grower

Member Position Two (three-year term):

Christine Gemperle, Ceres

Alternate Position Two:

Kent Stenderup, Bakersfield

In addition, Lisa Giannini, Hickman, has been named to fill the Cooperative Grower Alternate Position One role.

California Ag Today2021-06-01T16:32:57-07:00June 1st, 2021|

Reducing Almond Harvest Dust

Reducing Dust During Almond Harvest–A Big Goal of the Industry

By Patrick Cavanaugh, with the AgInformation Network

Brian Wahlbrink is with Sperry Farms in Stanislaus County and Vice Chairman of the Almond Board as well as being the chair of the Almond Board’s Harvest Working Group—focused on reducing dust.

“This is the real gritty and dirty group, who gets the pleasure of focusing on the major goal of trying to reduce harvest dust by 50% by 2025. But I think we’ve already learned that progress is never a straight line,” said Wahlbrink. “You know, when it comes to these initiatives, I’ve loved being involved with this group. It’s such a diverse group. We have such an exciting future. We have growers, handlers, researchers, and there’s eight orchard equipment companies on this group. It’s remarkable,” he said.

“We had eight competing companies come into this room and talk about the betterment of the industry. It’s really amazing. And I so appreciate everybody doing that. And we have so much participation. You know, this year, the main focus was the existing equipment. We were talking about conditioners. We were talking about the Low-dust harvesters,” noted Wahlbrink.

Wahlbrink said, it’s interesting that they get the attention of the USDA, CDFA, and the Air Board incentive programs.

“And there’s actually been some very high dollar incentives for growers to participate in these programs and help with the acquisition costs of equipment,” Wahlbrink explained.

California Ag Today2021-01-27T18:02:50-08:00January 27th, 2021|

Dan Sumner on Almond Industry

Economics Of The Massive and Growing California Almond Industry

By Patrick Cavanaugh, with the Ag Information Network

Dan Sumner is a Distinguished professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis, as well as the Director of the UC Agricultural Issues Center at UC Davis.

“Of course, we’ve seen this coming for a decade. So, we’ve known that the bearings acreage was going to continue to go up because we’ve got the non-bearing acreage, and that’ always coming up,” Sumner said. “We don’t know for sure how many acres will be pulled, but nobody’s surprised that we have a massive crop.”

“The question is long-term demand. Do we get used to lower prices? There’s a million-dollar question. Actually, that’s a billion-dollar question, isn’t it? And nobody really knows the answer and I’m not going to pretend like I do either,” said Sumner.

“And we do know as well that even though you can’t grow almonds, very many places everybody’s trying to figure out whether the can expand outside of California. So,we know it’s a world crop and California dominates the world,” Sumner said. “It’s not just our additional size of crop, but it’s the rest of the world as well. And you can do a few almonds in Australia and you can do a few almonds here and there, and everybody’s going to try to figure out they can expand,” he said.

“And so, I don’t see any long-term disaster going on and almonds that is to say demand will continue to grow. But the real question is can demand keep up with the very rapid production increases. And the answer is maybe,” explained Sumner.

California Ag Today2020-12-17T18:01:07-08:00December 17th, 2020|

Mummy Shake Video Contest Announced

Almond Board’s Video Contest Helps Remind Growers of Mummy Nut Sanitation

The Almond Board of California is excited to announce its third-annual Mummy Shake Video Contest, and we would deeply appreciate your help in spreading the word about this year’s competition. This contest is aimed at helping remind growers to break the link between mummy nuts (nuts left on the tree after harvest) and overwintering navel orangeworm (NOW).

NOW is the primary insect pest in California almonds, posing a high risk to the crop as the worms bore into the nut and feed on the nutmeat. This not only damages the nut but also opens the door to Aspergillus molds that can produce aflatoxins, a food safety contaminant.

To participate in this contest, almond industry and allied industry members are invited to submit a video of their families dancing – or even singing – along to The Mummy Shake! This year’s contest will run from Monday, Oct. 26, and end at 11:59 p.m. PT on Friday, Nov. 20. The winner of this year’s contest will receive a $500 Amazon gift card. Entries will be judged based on enthusiasm, creativity and composition, and a full list of contest rules may be found at Almonds.com/MummyShakeRules.

If you’re interested in helping us promote this year’s contest, please let me know. Sharing this event with industry stakeholders could include anything from mentioning the contest dates in an online calendar, sharing the contest in an email newsletter or on a social media page, or even giving the contest a shout out during a radio segment. Here’s some quick links to various mummy shake/NOW information that you may use in your promotions:

Rules page: Almonds.com/MummyShakeRules.
NOW information page: https://www.almonds.com/almond-industry/orchard-management/crop-protection/navel-orangeworm
Mummy Shake Video: https://youtu.be/mGsoV5ceFeo
Mummy Shake lyrics page: https://www.almonds.com/sites/default/files/2020-05/Mummy%20Shake%20Video%20Lyrics.pdf
Stay tuned for upcoming articles on the importance of winter sanitation (a.k.a. mummy shaking), posted to our Industry News page: https://www.almonds.com/almond-industry/industry-news?field_topic_target_id=All&year=all&page=0

California Ag Today2020-11-04T12:02:43-08:00November 4th, 2020|

UC Offers Almond Production Short Course Nov. 5–7

Almond Short Course For Growers To Learn More

By Pam Kan-Rice UCANR News and Information Outreach

UC Agriculture and Natural Resources will host the UC Almond Short Course Nov. 5-7, 2019, at the Visalia Convention Center.

UC faculty, UC Cooperative Extension specialists and farm advisors and USDA researchers who will provide in-depth, comprehensive presentations of all phases of almond culture and production. An optional field tour will be offered on Nov. 8 in Parlier.

The program is based on the latest information and research and will cover the fundamental principles that form the basis for practical decisions. Each session will include Q&A, quality time with instructors and networking opportunities. The full agenda is at https://ucanr.edu/sites/almondshortcourse/2019_Agenda.

This year’s short course offers an in-depth field tour at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center on Friday, Nov. 8. For an additional fee, participants can learn firsthand about topics ranging from orchard establishment and management to integrated pest management. See the tour agenda at https://ucanr.edu/sites/almondshortcourse/2019_Field_Tour.

Registration is $900, discounts are available until Oct. 21. On-site registration will be $1,000.

Registration includes:

Three full days of instruction with more than 35 presentations
Binders containing presentations
Three lunches and two receptions
DPR (PCA) & CCA continuing education credits (pending approval)
Option to add Field Tour for $65

California Ag Today2021-05-12T11:01:46-07:00October 15th, 2019|

DPR Has Big Funding for Pest Managment Program

The Department of Pesticide Regulation’s (DPR’s) 2020 Pest Management Research Grant solicitation is now available

See the Grant here: http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/pestmgt/grants/research/index.htm

This year, the Pest Management Research Grant Program will allocate:

1- $2,100,000 to fund projects that identify, develop, and implement safer, practical, and sustainable pest management alternatives to Chlorpyrifos. DPR will consider proposals requesting $150,000 to $500,000.

2- $500,000 to fund projects that develop methods or practices to reduce risks associated with pesticides of high regulatory concern and/or are considered to high-risk and which can be incorporated into an IPM system. DPR will consider proposals requesting $50,000 to $500,000.

Concept proposals must be submitted by 5:00 PM PST on Monday, October 7, 2019.

Concept application must be downloaded from DPR’s Research Grants webpage, here:

https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/pestmgt/grants/research/solicitation.htm

A Proposal Package will be provided to applicants invited to submit full proposals.

Completed Concept and full Proposal applications must be submitted to the following email address: dprpmgrants@cdpr.ca.gov

If you know groups or individuals who may be interested in applying for a Pest Management Research Grant, we encourage you to pass on this information.

For additional information on the Pest Management Research Grant Program, please visit http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/pestmgt/grants/research/index.htm

If you have any questions, please contact Atefeh Nik at 916-445-2509 or Atefeh.nik@cdpr.ca.gov or John Gerlach at 916-445-3909 or John.Gerlach@cdpr.ca.gov.

California Ag Today2019-09-15T19:07:11-07:00September 18th, 2019|

Almond Harvest Underway

A Whole Lot of Almond Shaking is Going On Throughout California

By Patrick Cavanaugh, Editor

It’s a busy time of year for the almond industry as harvest is going strong. It starts in Kern county and moves all the way north or Chico. It will take nearly two months to get across 1.4 million acres, and it’s going to be about a 2.2 billion pound crop, which is down 3.5% from 2018 where the production was about 2.28 billion pounds. It was less than ideal weather conditions in the spring, which caused us dip in production.

However California remains the best place in the world to grow almonds. It’s all about the Mediterranean climate in California— long hot summers with the rain and cold in the winter, ideal for almond trees.

Navel Orangeworm is a critical pest in almonds, pistachios and in a lesser way for walnuts. And they continue to be a significant pest during almond harvest season as the adult moths can lay eggs, which can pupate later in almonds turning them off-grade. Once shaking is done and the almonds are picked up out of the field, it’s important to get that crop out of the orchard as soon as possible to minimize navel orange worm infestation.

Almonds are the first tree nut to be harvested. Later on, pistachios will start, following that we’ll be walnuts.

California Ag Today2019-08-08T10:54:00-07:00August 7th, 2019|