Almond Industry Strengthens all California Ag

The California almond industry is big, and in fact it can impact many other commodities grown in this state. Richard Waycott is president of the Almond Board of California. He noted that the almond industry is resource rich.

“The Almond Board of California is blessed by very strong support financially and strategically by the industry,” said Waycott. “In such, we have the ability to work on very serious projects and programs for California agriculture. Because of our size, just over 1.2 million acres, we can have a tremendous impact on the ecology of the state, on environmental practices, on ag practices, that can then obviously be disseminated and taken advantage of by other California agriculture.”

Waycott said innovation is a big part of the almond industry.

“I think our role is to produce this wonderful food product for human consumption, the hulls and shells for other purposes, and we're working very hard on that to determine new applications for those co-products,” he said. “But then again, to use the financial, and the talent and treasure of the industry, and the size of the industry to innovate more rapidly, and provide for constructive change.”