California Almond Crop This Year (2025)

As an almond grower a common question get throughout the year is, how do your almonds look this year?

That is a really tough question to answer because there are so many variables which occur throughout the year that can have a direct effect on yield, My standard answer is, ask me in fall after they have been harvested, weighed, sorted and are safe and sound in my cold storage.

California almonds are clearly the best. We have many tasty varieties (3 at our farm) but to get the crop from bloom to your table involve many variables, many are unpredictable and out of control of the farmer (me). This is of course very frustrating. We have just finished sorting our almonds, preparing them for sale. This blog will give the consumer a look into those many variables.

You would think almond bloom would be the first step in the development of the almond, actually, it’s right now (fall). Next year's crop (2026) is currently in bud development stage, technically it started in July, before this year’s crop was even harvested! The actions or inactions I take from July through dormancy (late December) can affect the quality and yield of next year's almonds. The trees must have proper nutrition and irrigation for the buds to develop healthy and plentiful.

Once almond bloom starts in February the weather is a major factor. If it’s too hot during bloom we can get a flash bloom, where all the blossoms pop at once, looks great but negatively affects pollination. So can rain and wind. It’s tough for bees to complete the job when they only have a few days. The bees have a strict union contract: they only pollinate when it’s warmer than 54 degrees, not too windy and no rain. So we want a cool (but not too cool), dry, not too windy February- no problem, right?

After pollination too cold can damage or destroy the growing almonds.

Squirrels start eating the growing almonds in March. One squirrel can clean and entire tree. They store them, lots of them in underground tunnels and trees.

If is a wet, warm spring, then fungal pressures and negatively affect yield.

Nut drop, which usually occurs in May or early Jun, phenomena is where you think you have a great crop, then 5-10% of your almonds drop off the tree. This is the tree deciding how many nuts it will carry.

At Capay Hills Orchard we harvest off-ground. Sometimes windy event occurs and we lose many almonds as the wind blows them to the ground and it’s not cost effective to pick up every nut.

Then there is always the insects which damage or ruin their share of the almonds.

Transportation losses. I have not had an accident yet but when I'm driving back from the huller with 1/2 of our crop and therefore revenue I'm always concerned an accident causes me to lose them all.

So as you can see I’m always reluctant to make prediction about my crop yield, too many things can happen. Now I have completed all the stages of almond production and they are safely stored in our cold storage facility (on farm), I can say our yield was just about the same as last year.

Organic Raw Almonds

What do you think? Please make a comment.  Be sure to share this article with your friend who might be interested and who are looking for a top notch orchard to buy real almonds from.

Brian

The Farmer

Almonds may not be cheap, but they are cheaper than the doctor or hospital. Eat well, live well, and support your organic farmer and family farm.

You can buy unpasteurized raw almonds and almond butter directly from the California farmer at Capay Hills Orchard. Order off the website, www.chorganicalmonds.com or call or text 530-507-8222.