Blue Diamond Almond Facts March-April 2021

Contents ON THE COVER: Turning Up the Heat! Blue Diamond ’s newest innovation for almonds is a spicy success! MAR–APR 2021 8 FIELD TEAM 10 NEWS IN A NUTSHELL 18 CORNERING THE MARKET 20 ADVOCACY REPORT 24 IN YOUR ORCHARD 46 CLASSIFIED ADS Features 6 President’s Corner As we wrap up the 2021 Almond Bloom, President and CEO Mark Jansen discusses the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel and how the co-op continues to market last year’s record crop while adding value through innovation. 10 Meet the Newest Regional Manager: Meggie Gilbert Meggie Gilbert joined Blue Diamond at the beginning of March and will support growers in Fresno and Kings counties. Get to know Meggie and learn more about her extensive industry experience and legacy with Blue Diamond . 18 Blue Diamond Product Innovation Takes Center Stage The Innovation and R&D team at Blue Diamond is always looking for new flavors and new uses of almonds to maximize returns to growers. Learn more about three spicy new flavors of XTREMES ™ snack almonds and a new Almond Breeze ™ Almond Cooking Cream that recently rolled out in Brazil. 28 Getting Personal with Your Trees Sebastian Saa, associate director of Agricultural Research at the Almond Board of California (ABC), says managing orchards is a bit like marriage: It’s a long-term relationship & care and attention to detail can pay benefits year after year. 3 M A R C H – A P R I L 2 0 2 1