nov-dec-2020

Mark Jansen President & CEO PRESIDENT’S CORNER What a Difference a Year Makes Who would have thought our biggest challenge would be helping employees trust they are safe at work ? Who would have imagined that grab and go almond consumption would decline by 25 percent ? Who would have guessed that the foodservice business would disappear ? Or that in May the entire market of India would shut down ? Who would ever have dreamed that Blue Diamond would remain continuously operational ? Not only did we sell the crop, but we delivered upon our mission to maximize the returns for the growers who entrust us with their almonds. Our team members who share a commitment to Blue Diamond ’s mission made this possible. We are grateful for this amazing team! It took California over 90 years to produce its first billion-pound crop. Nine years later, and early in my tenure, together, we successfully marketed the first two billion-pound crop. Another nine years have passed, and we are receiving what will be California’s first three billion-pound crop. This bountiful harvest does not come as a surprise. Blue Diamond has been building our business in anticipation of ever larger almond crops. With this year’s perfect bloom weather, it was imperative that we completed our multi-year growth plans. We needed to build out Blue Diamond ’s capacity and capability to handle an additional 100 million pounds of almonds. Specifically, in Salida, we added the second of two 50 million-pound raw almond warehouses. We also completed and started up the second major upgrade to the main production line that enhances yield and throughput. It was not enough that we just process the additional almonds, we knew we must also profitably market them. Your most profitable almonds are those we process into Almond Breeze ® . This incredible growth business is now valued at $800 million in retail sales. In Turlock, to keep up with demand, we built a fully integrated almond beverage-base line. This plant expansion produces the proprietary ingredient behind Almond Breeze ® — it looks like thin almond butter. Our licensee partners also have a secret process that mixes our special almond ingredient with water to create our delicious Almond Breeze ® . Our previous way of producing Almond Breeze ® was effective, but more complicated and expensive. It involved multiple steps across all three facilities. Since May, raw almonds enter one side of the Turlock plant and exit out the other in large totes ready to be shipped to our licensee partners. This expansion more than doubles our Almond Breeze ® capacity and provides significant operational costs savings. Your most profitable almond business is now more profitable. During this year’s annual meeting, many enjoyed the virtual plant tours. Perhaps these made our important work look easy. During COVID-19, our work became significantly more challenging. 6 A L M O N D F A C T S