Almonds are among California's top 'ambassadors'

California's successful almond industry was featured in a Los Angeles Times article over the weekend, which noted the sector's collaboration with UC on managing almond irrigation.

California produces 82 percent of the world's almonds on 800,000 acres in the Great Central Valley. About 70 percent of the almonds are sold overseas, wrote LA Times reporter David Pierson. The Almond Board of California forecasts that the state will harvest its third-largest crop in 2014 at 1.85 billion pounds -  more than three times what the state was producing in the late 1990s.

Pierson spoke to Daniel Sumner, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources' Agricultural Issues Center. He believes foreign demand for California almonds will continue to grow.

"We'll run out of dirt and water before we run out of almond markets," Sumner said.

In the video below, Joe MacIlvaine, president of Paramount Farming, explains how UC Cooperative Extension and California farmers have worked together to improve irrigation and nitrogen efficiency in almond production. Paramount Farming produces 6 percent of California's almonds on 46,000 acres in the southern San Joaquin Valley. For more the California almond industry, read Almonds become California's second-most valuable commodity. 

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