While California agriculture’s current export shipping crisis is going to take a combined effort at multiple levels of government and supply chain leadership to resolve, a panel discussion at the recent convention of the Almond Alliance of California illustrated some positives steps that are being taken to improve the situation. Watch this brief interview with Andrew Hwang from the Port of Oakland to learn about some of these efforts, and read more about it in the June issue of Pacific Nut Producer Magazine.
Please thank this video’s sponsor Trece for their industry support.
Northern California growers are really feeling the impact of drought this year with record low water allocations if any. Watch this brief interview with grower Blake Vann, who serves on the Glenn Colusa Irrigation District Board as he explains, and read more about it in the next issue of Pacific Nut Producer Magazine.
Please thank this video’s sponsor Trece for their industry support.
California almonds, among other tree nuts and agricultural products have been struggling to make their way across the sea to consumers around the world. Organizations such as the Almond Board of California have worked hard and invested a lot to open global markets and pave the way for California almonds to reach grocery stores worldwide, and all of this is at stake now if we can’t get our product beyond our western ports. Watch this brief interview with Aubrey Bettencourt, President of the Almond Alliance of California as she details the problem and what they are doing to make a difference. Read more about it in the June issue of Pacific Nut Producer Magazine.
Please thank this video’s sponsor Trece for their industry support.
Almond Board of California — California’s almond acreage continues to grow, but at a gradually slowing rate, according to two new reports. While the number of almond orchards removed also increased over the previous year, it was not enough to offset the overall acreage gains.
According to an estimate from Land IQ, bearing almond orchards at harvest will cover 1.338 million acres across California, an increase of 29,000 acres – or about 2.2% – over last year. This estimate looks at orchards that will be productive and harvested in 2022. In addition, the report estimates 59,732 acres of orchards will be removed before harvest, nearly 12,000 acres more than last year.
These estimates from Land IQ’s 2022 Standing Acreage Initial Estimate look at bearing acreage – orchards that have matured enough to produce a crop – for the current 2021-22 crop year. In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS) 2021 California Almond Acreage Report released today gives a comprehensive look at last year.
The USDA-NASS report for the 2020-21 crop year estimated there were 1.32 million bearing acres in 2021, up 5.6 percent from 2020. Total almond acreage in 2021, which includes non-bearing trees, was estimated at 1.64 million, up 2.5 percent from the previous year. It also said the 320,000 non-bearing acres in 2021 is a total down 8.6% from 2020.
The USDA-NASS report gave a preliminary estimate for bearing acreage in 2022 at 1.37 million acres, but cautioned that a major source of data for this estimate is a survey mailed to growers and is unlikely to be 100 percent accurate.
USDA-NASS said nonpareil continued to be the leading variety, followed by Monterey, Butte, Carmel, and Independence.
These reports are being issued side by side by the Almond Board of California (ABC) to provide a complete picture of California’s almond acreage.
Neither of these reports offer any estimate on the actual almond yield this 2021-22 crop year. The first look at yield will come on May 12 with USDA-NASS’ Subjective Estimate. A fuller picture of crop size will come with USDA-NASS’ Objective Report in July.
Bearing acres reflect plantings from 2019 or earlier. The removal estimates cover orchards taken out beginning in 2021 through March 31, 2022, added to acreage projected to be removed through Aug. 31, the end of the crop year. The projection uses historical data and present conditions.
“These estimates show that California almond production will remain strong,” said ABC President and CEO Richard Waycott. “Demand for almonds in California, the U.S. and around the globe continues to grow and California almond growers are prepared to meet that demand.”
Land IQ’s Initial Estimate and its Final Acreage Estimate in November, along with USDA-NASS’s April Acreage Report, May’s Subjective Estimate and the Objective Report in July are all commissioned by ABC to provide statistical transparency and a robust picture of California almonds to industry stakeholders around the world.
In 2018, ABC first commissioned Land IQ, a Sacramento-based agricultural and environmental scientific research and consulting firm, to develop a comprehensive, living map of California almonds. The map is the result of nearly a decade of research and has an accuracy of 98% or greater.
Data for USDA-NASS’s acreage reports comes from a number of sources including voluntary responses from almond growers’ to mailed questionnaires with telephone and field follow-ups. USDA-NASS also uses Land IQ data to fine tune its reports.
Almond Board of California — Almond exports from the U.S. to Mexico increased 25% in 2021, reflecting a growing appetite for the nuts by health-conscious consumers in that market.
Wellness is top of mind for many Mexicans, who increasingly have gravitated to almonds for several health benefits. Almonds contain magnesium to support a healthy immune system, vitamin E to support skin care (vitamin E may help protect cells from the damaging effects of free radicals, caused by pollution, UV rays from the sun, cigarette smoke and other environmental and intrinsic factors) and good fats (to support heart health). One serving of almonds (28g) has 13g of unsaturated fat (healthy fat) and only 1g of saturated fat.
Since 2018, the Almond Board of California has conducted consumer advertising and public relations in Mexico under the “Ponte Almendra” campaign. Ponte Almendra is a play on words in Spanish, adapted from the colloquial “ponte las pilas,” a popular idiom to tell people to work harder or make a bigger effort – essentially to get going. The message in Ponte Almendra is that a handful of almonds contains the natural energy-giving protein to help active people get through their busy days.
Clearly, the marketing efforts are paying off. Last year, almond shipments to Mexico increased to 30 million pounds, making Mexico one of the up-and-coming countries ABC staff are most excited about.
“The Almond Board is enthusiastic about the emerging growth of this market,” said Becky Jeffers, ABC’s manager of North American marketing. “Consumers are looking for healthy snacks as their lifestyles have changed and diseases of affluence such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease are increasing.”
Marketing efforts have leveraged the popularity and credibility of Mexican TV stars and trusted medical experts. ABC also has partnered with the Mexican Heart Foundation to underscore the value of almonds in a heart-healthy diet.
A consumer survey funded by the Almond Board showed that 68% of Mexican consumers were motivated to eat almonds if they understood that almonds as part of a heart-healthy diet could potentially help with improving cholesterol levels.
In 2021, the Ponte Almendra campaign featured TV ads that aired during major sporting events, such as the broadcast of the Super Bowl in Mexico and national soccer championships, and award shows such as the Grammy’s in Mexico. One TikTok video posted on Feb. 16, 2021 (designated as Almond Day in Mexico) garnered an impressive 2 million organic (un-sponsored) views in one day.
ABC’s research revealed that consumers ranked almonds high in overall preference and said it is the nut they’ve seen the most positive stories about.
“There is more opportunity to drive consumer awareness and perception of almonds’ specific heart health benefits. In fact, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, scientific evidence suggests, but does not prove, that eating 1.5 ounces of nuts as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease,” Jeffers said. “The survey showed 82% of Mexican consumers rate knowing that almonds are good for your heart would make them more likely to eat almonds. However, only 33% of respondents said that almonds are the best nut for their heart, showing the opportunity to amplify the nutrition research on heart health that is motivating to consumers.”
The Almond Board has already shifted the communications to focus on heart health while keeping Ponte Almendra as the overarching campaign slogan. For example, for World Heart Month in September 2021, ABC partnered with credible doctors for TV media interviews and social media posts – including a 30-minute interview between a health coach and a doctor on Instagram Live. The heart health efforts will continue throughout 2022.
Almond Board of California — With the rise of leaffooted bug damage showing up in almond kernels at the handler, the bottom line of growers is at stake. Research funded by the Almond Board of California and conducted at UC Riverside, is expanding much needed tools for effective IPM monitoring protocol to combat the pest.
Across the industry, handlers have seen higher rates of brown spot damage caused by leaffooted bug – and true bugs, such as stink bug – which has led to increased rejection rates.
Growers are limited to the best monitoring protocols available today, but they can be time and labor intensive, often pointing out damage after it’s too late to act.
leaffooted bug on Almond (Photo Courtesy of the Almond Board of California)
A multiyear effort led be UC Riverside Entomology Professor Jocelyn Millar – and funded by the Almond Board of California – has worked to improve the monitoring options for the pest.
“You can take beat samples of the crop canopy to look for adults or nymphs, but we’ve never established any kind of treatment threshold for that practice,” said Houston Wilson, assistant cooperative extension specialist in the Department of Entomology at UC Riverside and collaborator on the project. “You can look for signs of feeding damage, which manifests in gummosis, which can also be caused by a number of things.”
Wilson said growers can cut gummy nuts open to look for evidence of leaffooted bug penetration of the kernel.
“Identifying gummosis is easier because you can look for the signs, but it’s an artifact – by the time you see it, the leaffooted bug has already damaged the nuts,” Wilson said. “We don’t have a passive sampling system for leaffooted bug, like for navel orangeworm, where a pheromone attracts the insect to a trap,” Wilson said. “What we’re trying to develop is a lure – a pheromone – and a better trap.”
leaffooted bug damaged nuts (Photo Courtesy of the Almond Board of California)
First, the pheromone
Over the past five years, Millar and his team have been isolating and identifying compounds that make up the leafooted bug pheromone. Nine compounds were identified, and the team began work to synthesize each one. Wilson said that some of the compounds were relatively easy to identify, but others were not, “the last pheromone compound we identified was entirely new to science.”
In the latest project update, Millar noted that this new compound was a relatively small part of the overall pheromone composition but it packed the biggest punch, triggering the strongest responses from the bugs. Over the last two years, Millar’s team has been able to collect enough material to identify the compound and effectively synthesize it.
Second, the trap
At the same time as the pheromone work, the team at UC Riverside – and other collaborators such as Cooperative Extension Specialist Kent Daane – began looking at the best trap for the application. They tested multiple styles of traps and colors, ultimately identifying that a hanging cross-vane panel trap coated with a sticky substance – yellow or blue in color – performed the best for trapping leaffooted bug.
With a fully recreated pheromone and an effective trap, the team ran trap trials in commercial almond, pistachio and pomegranate orchards in the Central Valley. Based on in-field trials, the team concluded that the trap and pheromone were both very effective and will look to the private sector to commercialize the new monitoring system.
What’s next?
“We demonstrated in field trials last summer and this spring that the synthetic pheromone blend is highly attractive to females,” Wilson said. “Now we’re looking at what minimal blend of compounds are needed to attract the pest. If we want this to be a commercially viable lure, we have to find the most cost-effective composition. In many cases, it’s not necessarily required to have the full bouquet of compounds in a pheromone blend to have a functional lure.”
Once the right balance is determined for a synthetic blend that lures leaffooted bugs to a trap the next step is understanding what trap catch means on population density in an orchard. This will define treatment thresholds, giving growers guidance on timing to combat leaffooted bug before damage occurs on kernels. Private industry will likely takeover at this point to develop the traps for the industry. For Wilson, this prospect has him cautiously optimistic.
“We’re very fired up with this pheromone blend, but I’m also trying not to get ahead of myself before we know what the cost will be for a commercial and scalable lure.”
More information about best management practices of leaffooted bug is available at the UC Statewide IPM website.
According to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, a strong demand for U.S. Tree Nut products continues in Japan, driven by the growing health-oriented trends among Japanese consumers. In 2021, fresh and dried nut imports to Japan totaled $491 million, of which 78.2 percent or approximately $384 million was from the United States. The key market sectors for U.S. Tree Nuts are in bakery and retail, valued at $215.1 million. Almonds and walnuts are almost exclusively supplied by the United States.
General Information:
Historically, walnuts and chestnuts were grown wild or cultivated on a very small scale for local consumption. Since Japan started importing nuts in the 1950’s, nuts such as almonds and mixed nuts have been used as a snack to eat with alcoholic drinks or as ingredients for cookies and chocolates. Except for certain walnut production areas, only in recent years have nuts been used for cooking. The Japan Nuts Association was established in 1993, with seventy-three importers and distributors.
Market Trends:
Japan has almost no production of nuts, except for very limited production of walnuts (approximately one hundred eighty tons per year). As a result, consumers of nut products rely heavily on imports. The market had been very limited, but stable, because nuts were mostly used as ingredients for the bakery and confectionary industry and the retail price for nuts was relatively higher. Over the past decade, consumption of almonds and walnuts has gradually increased, with imports reaching 42,489 metric tons (MT) (a record high) and 22,527 MT, respectively. Meanwhile, chestnuts have seen dramatic declines in import volumes over the past twenty years. Pistachio imports have been stable but has gradually increased in small amounts over the past couple of years.
The key market sectors for tree nuts are bakery (55 percent) and retail (33 percent). For confectionary and baking industry, the following processed nut items have been most widely used:
Walnuts: 1) Raw shelled light-color medium pieces, 2) Raw or roasted shelled light-color small pieces
Pistachios: 1) In-shell, 2) Raw shelled, 3) Praline rolled into paste, 4) Cuts (for topping)
In the baking sector, walnuts are the most frequently utilized tree nuts, in a variety of bread items and Japanese sweets. In the retail sector, nuts in a 40-55g package or 100g package are popular at convenience stores and supermarkets, and 200g or 500g package are popular atspecialty stores, and internet shops. At the retail stores, nuts are placed on the shelf for the baking ingredients and/or the shelf for the snacks. Salted mixed nuts for snacking or accompanied with alcoholic drinks are traditional methods of consumption and still popular in the retail sector. However, unsalted straight nuts are gaining in popularity due to the proliferation of information on the health benefits and versatility in usage for each type of nut. Snack nuts mixed with dry fruits, such as trail mix, are still not common but cereal snack bars, some sold with the Nutritional Supplement Foods label, with nuts and dry fruits have been popular in the Japanese market.
In the retail sector, mixed nuts are sold best among nuts categories (including peanuts), followed by peanuts and chestnuts. In recent years, Japanese consumers have become more health-conscious and have become more educated on the nutritional benefits both almonds and walnuts provide. Strategic marketing and promotion of the health and beauty benefits have continued to be effective by major television stations as well as on internet and social media sites. Health-related messaging includes key words like omega-3, anti-oxydant, vitamin E, vitamin B, minerals, oleic acid, anti-aging, reducing cholesterol, zero cholesterol, healthy blood vessels, healthy brain, healthy skin, etc. This type of messaging has been key to promoting nuts and nut products to Japanese consumers.
During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021, sales of nuts and dry fruits increased in the retail sector due to consumer dining changes, from dining-out to dining in the household. Some stores reported between 120-130 percent increased sales and the expansion of shelf space by 10 percent. Overall, snacking became one of the growing trends during the stay-at-home/teleworking environment. “New Snacking” included nuts, dry fruits, and vegetable chips. In addition to this, consumers made shifts to “unsalted” nuts, as a healthier alternative.
Pistachio’s use as an ingredient is another in-demand product. Major snack/confectionary manufacturers created new snacks using more nuts including pistachios. Major manufacturers including Morinaga and Tirol have new ice cream and chocolate products utilizing pistachios. Major convenience stores such as 7-Eleven and Family Mart created desserts with pistachios, which have also been sold in cafes and at other specialty stores. In addition to this, one of the major specialty store chains KALDI started selling pistachio spread. A pistachio specialty store “Pista and Tokyo” recently opened at one of the premium locations near Tokyo Station, demonstrating the strong popularity pistachios have gained among Japanese consumers. Imports for U.S. pistachios have been flat but have been gradually increasing over time. Import data from December 2020 to November 2021, shows an increase of 146.3 percent compared to the previous year. Approximately 93 percent of total pistachio imports in 2020 were from the U.S., with the rest mostly originating from Iran and Italy.
Imports of Tree Nuts:
Each type of nut is imported mainly from a sole exporter because of specific production conditions such as climate, soil, and ability for mass production and quality control. That dependence can cause unstable supplies and prices; and Japanese importers are seeking a wider variety of potential suppliers to fulfill market demand. The United States dominates as supplier of almonds, walnuts, and pistachios, and ships in lesser quantities. Australia supplies the majority of macadamia nuts; chestnuts are imported primarily from China and Korea, while Turkey is the largest supplier of hazelnuts. Cashews and coconuts are sourced mostly from other countries.
The U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement (USJTA) entered into force on January 1, 2020 and is in year three of enforcement. Following implementation of USJTA, nearly 90 percent of U.S. food and agricultural products imported into Japan are now duty free or receive preferential tariff access. In 2021, Japan imported $491 million in fresh or dried nuts from the world, of which 78.2 percent (approximately $384 million) was from the United States.
Major Tree Nuts Importers, Processors and Distributors in Japan
Japan is a very competitive market, and buyers in the food and beverage industry are inundated with meeting requests. Therefore, they often do not respond to “cold calls” or requests for meetings with individual companies. Instead, they prefer to find new products at large trade shows, or specially targeted trade showcases, where they can look at many products at once. Therefore, the best way to find buyers is to participate in one of the food related trade shows or showcases in Japan. The ATO organizes U.S. pavilions at the Supermarket Trade Show in February and FOODEX Japan in March, and many Japanese buyers are invited to stop by the U.S. pavilion to meet with exhibitors. The ATO also supports exhibitors at the shows by providing a market briefing, business meeting lounge, etc. Please contact the ATOs for more information about trade shows. The recommended trade shows featuring USA Pavilions in Japan are as follows:
-FOODEX Japan in Kansai 2022, July 27-29, 2022, Intex Osaka, Osaka
-FABEX Kansai 2022, September 7-9 2022, Intex Osaka, Osaka
-Supermarket Trade Show 2023, February 15-17, 2023, Makuhari Messe, Chiba
-FOODEX Japan 2023, March 7-10, 2023, Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo
Contact Information:
The Japan Nuts Association represents the interests of wholesalers, processors, and trading firms. For their member list, please visit: http://www.jna-nut.org/?page_id=16
The Almond Alliance of California today thanked California’s U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla for joining with a collaborative of major agriculture associations in urging a summit with all stakeholders – ocean shipping carriers and agricultural exporters – to resolve gridlock at the nation’s ports, where billions of dollars of exports are stuck on the docks.
“The agriculture community of California thanks and appreciates our Senate delegation for standing up to end this gridlock which has crippled California farmers for the last year,” stated Almond Alliance President Aubrey Bettencourt.
The call to action – spelled out in a letter from the senators – urged a wide range of interests to come to the table to address this crisis. The communique was sent to
March Bourdon, President of CMA CGM Maritime, the United States Secretary of Agriculture, the United States Secretary of Transportation, and the National Economic Council.
The senators implored those officials to work with American agricultural exporters to immediately expand export opportunities.
“We urge you to work with California agricultural producers to ensure their products, especially perishables, expeditiously get to export markets worldwide during this important season,” the senators wrote. “We look forward to working with you to achieve our shared goals.”
In their communique, Senators Feinstein and Padilla underscored the urgency of the crisis:
Our “agricultural commodities have been significantly hampered in exporting their products because of container and equipment shortages, canceled bookings, and inadequate receiving windows.
“According to the attached letter from several of California’s major agricultural producers, three out of four containers at U.S. ports are returning to Asia empty, resulting in a significant backlog of sold product in need of transportation.”
That letter from national and state agricultural groups specifically demands for an immediate federal effort to convene a meeting of ocean carrier companies and agricultural exporters to address the tremendous export trade imbalance which is crippling American agriculture and damaging the American economy.
Signatories of that second letter include leadership of the California Farm Bureau; Western Growers Association; National Milk Producers Federation; U.S. Dairy Export Council; Western United Dairies; the Almond Alliance of California, and the California Walnut Handlers Alliance.
The 2022 California Almond Subjective Forecast published by the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates that the crop harvested in 2022 will come in at 2.8 billion pounds, 4 percent below last year’s 2.92 billion pounds.
Forecasted yield is 2,040 pounds per acre, 8 percent below the 2021 yield of 2,210 per acre.
Richard Waycott, Almond Board of California
“A lower crop estimate was not totally unexpected versus last year’s 2.9 billion pounds,” said Richard Waycott, president and CEO of the Almond Board of California (ABC). “Some growers’ crops this spring were impacted by frost, while all growers are managing continuing concerns about water availability. However, demand for California almonds around the globe remains strong and California almond growers are prepared to meet that demand.”
The Subjective Forecast is the first of two production reports from NASS for the coming crop year. It is based on opinions from a phone survey conducted from April 19 to May 6 of randomly selected California almond growers. The sample of growers, which changes every year, is spread across regions and different sized operations.
On July 8, NASS will release its second production estimate, the 2022 California Almond Objective Report, which is considered more accurate and is based on actual almond counts using a more statistically rigorous methodology to determine yield.
This Subjective Forecast comes two weeks after NASS released the 2021 California Almond Acreage Report, which gave a preliminary estimate for bearing acreage in 2022 at 1.37 million acres, about 3.8 percent larger than its estimate for 2021 of 1.32 million bearing acres.
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. These reports are the official industry crop estimates.
