From the Fields - Paul Vermeulen

By Paul Vermeulen, Stanislaus County almond grower and huller 

Almond harvest is 10 to 15 days earlier than last year. We’re about a quarter of the way through harvest, which will probably be over the first week of October. There has been some movement in the price in the upward direction. I know all almond farmers are hoping it continues in that trajectory.

The crop is lighter than people had hoped, but not lighter than they had expected. I’m seeing great quality in well-maintained fields and some navel orangeworm in some older fields. But overall, the crop is a lot better quality than last year in the early almonds.

Last year was a difficult year for (orchard) sanitation because the rain started at the end of December and didn’t stop until mid- to late March. The (lower) worm pressure (this year) is probably due to increased attention to sanitation but also better timing and weather that doesn’t lend itself to growing navel orangeworm.

The dust mite pressure this year has been the worst I’ve seen since I was a kid. It is everywhere. Even people that sprayed the expensive materials are having lots of mite pressure. I haven’t talked to anyone that seems to know why, but that’s something that everyone is battling. That definitely increases costs because mite sprays are quite expensive.

In shelling, the demand and marketability for hulls significantly decreased. The price of hulls dropped along with most feed commodities. That’s led a lot of shellers to increase prices in a year when increased prices are not welcome for most almond growers.

At this time last year, almond hulls were worth about $150 a ton. Today’s price is about $48 a ton. All almond hullers use the income that they sell the hulls for to offset the cost of the operation. Hullers have lost about three-quarters to two-thirds of their income from the hulls, so they’ve had to increase prices to the growers.