California’s 2012 almond acreage is estimated at 870,000 acres, up 4 percent from the 2011 acreage of 835,000. Of the total acreage for 2012, 790,000 acres were bearing and 80,000 acres were non-bearing. Preliminary bearing acreage for 2013 is estimated at 810,000 acres.
Nonpareil continued to be the leading variety, followed by Butte, Carmel, Monterey and Padre.
Kern, Fresno, Merced and Stanislaus were the leading counties. These four counties had 63 percent of the total bearing acreage, down slightly from the previous year.
(Courtesy California Dept. of Food and Agriculture)
Honey Bees are vital to successful production of almonds. This year the bee supply was down due to heavy winter colony losses, so some almond growers could not rent all the colonies they needed.