Valley almond crop 13% larger than a year ago

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- This year's almond crop is up 13% from a year ago at 2.8 billion pounds, but that poses profitability concerns for growers.

The average almond price per pound has gone from $4.00 ten years ago to $1.64 this year.

Scott Hunter of Hunter Farms in Atwater is harvesting a big crop.

"Right now, everything seems to be a go. We're shaking nonpareils now and we're sweeping and picking them up," said Hunter.

Almonds have long represented one of the biggest crops in Several valley counties.

"They'll go to the huller, where you take off the hull of the almond, which is the little green part here. I don't know if you can see it. You take this off. This is the hull. It goes to cattle feed," Hunter explained.

Nothing goes to waste.

"So, this will go to almond feed and this will be processed. The shell will come off or it will remain. It will go to another company that will sell them and they will find customers around the world," said Hunter.

But with so much almond acreage in the ground, 1.4 million acres in California, many growers have found the market much more challenging.

"It's been tough the last couple of years. It's been a little more stability in the last few months," Hunter said.

"So, we're hoping as an industry we can continue to move forward with solid fair pricing."

Hunter is too busy getting those almonds out of his orchard to worry about anything else right now.

But he says consumers know California almonds are of the highest quality.

"We're the leading grower and seller of almonds around the world here in California. Yeah, these will be processed into going into everything from Hershey's candy bars to almond chicken," Hunter said.

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