Data provided by Phytech’s Head of Agronomy, Ziv Attia, PhD, and CA Director of Customer Success, Joseph Jackson.
The newly released "Costs Per Acre to Grow Almonds" guide for 2024 from UC Davis provides some eye-opening figures that every almond grower should consider. According to the document, the annual operating costs of an almond orchard are projected to be around $3,700 per acre.
Let’s put these numbers into perspective:
In recent years where almond prices were roughly $1.50 per pound, any grower producing less than 2,150 lb per acre was operating at a loss.
Using these price ranges, a grower with an average yield of 2,000 lb per acre would face a loss of at least $700 per acre.
This scenario assumes a perfectly clean crop, which isn't always the case (thanks to the orange navel worm and Mother Nature for keeping things …interesting…)
This is why at Phytech we emphasize to our almond growers that simply cutting costs isn't the sustainable solution. It’s natural, but reducing expenses can only go so far before it starts to impact production negatively. The real key lies in boosting production and achieving a larger crop load.
To better understand these numbers:
A grower who increases their yield to 3,000 lbs per acre at $1.50 per pound stands to make $700 in profit.
This is still taking into consideration high operating costs and rock-bottom market prices. This highlights the incredible power of increased production.
At Phytech, we have been able to increase almond yield by 15-18% each year for the past four years with some of our selected growers. We attribute this success to our advanced technology allowing for informed real-time decisions that affected their irrigation and fertigation routines. By leveraging Phytech's data, growers can optimize their practices and ensure each orchard receives exactly what it needs to thrive ultimately leading to higher yields and better-quality crops.
Learn how Phytech can help maximize your almond production.
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