Working to Create a Profitable Walnut Market
With California Ag Today, I’m Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.
Almond orchards removed, supply down, prices up…right? Well, maybe not according to recent information out from RaboResearch Food and Agribusiness highlighted by the California Farm Bureau.
With more California walnut orchards being removed, the outlook for the industry is expected to improve as growers try to balance supply and demand. But such efforts alone will not be enough to put them on a fast track to market recovery and profitability according to that report from RaboResearch. It says production may not decline as fast as acreage does because growers are taking out older, less-productive trees, orchards with poor water availability or soil quality, and “heritage” varieties that are also lower yielding.
“The remaining acreage is going to be more productive,” said David Magaña, a senior analyst with RaboResearch.
He expects production will return to more normal levels in the next few years, weather permitting, with more trees being pulled. This will allow the industry to be “in a more favorable supply-demand balance,” though he adds prices will probably remain below break even for most growers.
The slowing production trend is happening not just in California but in other major walnut-producing regions such as Chile and China. Globally, walnut supplies are expected to be stable or declining in the next few years.
