Almond Facts, May-June 2021

Mark Jansen President & CEO PRESIDENT’S CORNER In all areas of our cooperative, this past year has been marked by agility and perseverance. From the co-op’s point of view, one of our biggest challenges in managing through the crop was ensuring we had the capacity, resources, and markets to sell the almonds entrusted to us by our growers. I’ve shared that, last August, we launched an internal team member rallying cry “Rising to the Challenge: The Big Wave” to maintain a focus on meeting those challenges. In line with that momentum, I am pleased to report that market demand for the 2020 crop so far has exceeded expectations, with shipments tracking to 2.8 billion pounds. For reference, crop shipments in 2019 were less than 2.4 billion pounds. What’s more, our carryover inventory is expected to dip below 700 million pounds which positions us well as we start planning to receive the 2021 crop. The latest NASS Subjective Forecast estimates another unprecedented crop in 2021 — 3.2 billion pounds. While industry plantings have been increasing, from a bearing acreage of 1.242 million acres in 2020 to an estimated 1.330 million acres in 2021, the yield predicted in the Subjective Forecast, 2,410 pounds per acre, represents the third highest yield in the history of the California almond industry. This seems unlikely. The expectation that the almond trees will need to rest after last year’s record crop has led the industry to largely coalesce around a lower estimate. Governor Newsom has issued drought emergency declarations for most of California’s counties, a distinction that helps facilitate private water transfers. It’s refreshing to see that this drought conversation around water is not focused solely on agricultural usage which tends to position farmers negatively in the media. Regardless, we anticipate water stress on trees to impact yields. 6 A L M O N D F A C T S