California’s meteoric rise in total almond acreage is now in decline, though bearing acreage figure remains at a record high.

Total almond acreage fell for the third consecutive year to just over 1.5 million acres, according to a report by Land IQ, a Sacramento-based agricultural and environmental research and consulting firm. The report reveals a drop of about 40,000 acres from the previous crop year.

The decline in total almond acreage may have a multi-faceted cause. Low almond returns over the past several years have turned what was once a profitable crop into an unprofitable one, forcing some growers to give up on the crop altogether. Increased input costs to farm those almonds, and the reduction in irrigation water in some growing areas likely led farmers to remove or abandon orchards.

Almond acreage is divided into three categories: total, bearing, and non-bearing. While it’s the bearing acreage that is most critical because annual production forecasts can be extrapolated from that number, the non-bearing acreage (the volume of trees three years old or less) can also be telling as it can suggest upcoming crop production.

“Three straight years of decreased acreage and sizeable orchard removals reflect a trend toward lower overall California almond acreage,” said California Almond Board President and CEO Clarice Turner in a prepared statement.

Demand still strong

Nevertheless, the almond board is boasting strong shipments of California almonds to global and domestic markets, a hint that even as acreage is shrinking, demand isn’t.

As almond harvest was recently completed, the industry does not know total production for the year. Year-to-date crop receipts in November were reported at about 1.85 billion pounds on a crop estimated by the USDA at 2.8 billion pounds. The almond crop year runs from August 1 to July 31.

Each year LandIQ provides the Almond Board of California with a statewide acreage estimate through advanced remote sensing analytics and extensive ground truthing. The purpose of these reports is to provide the industry with a clear understanding of acreage trends, particularly as the almond board is the U.S. marketing order tasked with the global promotion of U.S. almonds.

Perhaps not as clear, but still addressed in the LandIQ report, are the abandoned orchards – almond blocks simply left to die, or not yet scheduled for removal.

In its report, LandIQ said that over 66,000 acres of trees were removed in the 2024 crop season, and another 30,000 acres may have been abandoned, meaning they are no longer being actively managed, but have not yet been removed. Some of those trees in the abandoned category may have the ability to recover, according to the report. Nearly 23,000 of those abandoned acres were reported from Fresno, Kern, Merced, San Luis Obispo, and Stanislaus counties.

Documented orchard removals in the recent growing season were the highest in Kern County at 13,895 acres. Fresno County almond growers removed a similar acreage of almonds, as Stanislaus County farmers pulled just over 9,000 acres in 2024.

According to LandIQ, almost half of the state’s almond orchards are between four and 10 years old. Another 32% of the crop is between 11 and 20 years old. About 9% of the crop is non-bearing, which is under three years old.