Growers optimistic about 2023 California walnut outlook
The California walnut industry is gearing up for a stellar 2023 crop, industry leaders report.
The bigger harvest this year comes after several years of drought, record-low grower returns, COVID-disrupted markets with supply chain challenges and a devastating heat wave in September 2022 that negatively impacted the entire crop, according to a news release.
Quality is expected to be excellent due to favorable growing conditions, the release said.
Last winter’s prolonged heavy rains in the California walnut growing regions helped restore deep soil moisture and provided for healthy root zones, enabling trees to better tolerate late-season high temperatures, according to the release. The state also benefitted from an extensive snowpack that has provided all growing regions with sufficient water to support the trees and the crops through this season.
“This year, our trees are more capable of handling higher temperatures than the previous years when the trees were under stress due to long-term deficit irrigation,” fourth-generation grower and handler Bill Carriere of Glenn, Calif., said in the release. “I am very optimistic that this year will mark a return to the premium quality walnuts we are known for in California.”
Though the growing season has been favorable, industry leaders say some growers pulled out trees in the past year because of softer export markets and questions about future water availability.
“Our family decided to pull out a productive orchard planted by my father in the early 2000s, it was a difficult decision, but the numbers told the story,” Don Barton, a fourth-generation family farmer in Escalon, Calif., said in the release. “Overall, the last few years have been devastating for growers and we are making some difficult decisions.”
A survey conducted by the California Walnut Board between Oct. 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, showed that acreage of California walnuts declined by 23,000 acres.
The industry will likely see additional reductions between July and December 2023, as more growers decide to shift to other crops and the needed tree removal equipment becomes available, the release said.
Even with some acreage pulled, the remaining area totals about 380,000 producing acres and 37,000 younger nonbearing acres.
The USDA will release the official California walnut industry crop estimate on Sept. 1, the release said.
Industry data shows that California walnut handlers moved the equivalent of 730,488 tons this season from an available inventory of 880,000 tons, the release said. With strong buyer commitments into the fall, handlers will be virtually sold out of the 2022 crop when new crop volume comes on.
With minimal inventories of export-quality walnuts on hand, coupled with the current limited supply of walnut halves in global markets, the fresh California crop of premium quality walnuts, inshell and kernels, will be in high demand, according to the release.
“Domestically, sales have increased 28%, which helped our industry work through the high inventory numbers we saw at the start of the season,” Mike Poindexter of Poindexter Nut Company in Selma, Calif., said in the release. “Major U.S. retailers significantly increased their promotional efforts, which stimulated consumer sales. This is continuing through the fall and will provide nice momentum going into the U.S. holiday season for new crop kernels and inshell sales.”
Robert Verloop, CEO and executive director for the California Walnut Commission and Board, said in the release that the organization has taken several steps to aid growers.
“There have been successful efforts during the season to respond to the heat wave impacted crop, yet with low prices and high input costs, the squeeze on family farms has been relentless,” Verloop said. “Through the commission, we continue to work with our representatives in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento for emergency relief for growers. Also, working with the CWC Board of Directors, industry handlers/processors, many volunteer leaders and elected officials and regulators, we have successfully secured a record USDA Section 32 purchase this season for up to $90 million.
"This funding is being used to help move the current crop out of our storage and into 1,400 food banks across the U.S., providing additional nutrition to thousands of families," he continued. "In addition, the 20% reduction in tariffs recently announced by India will help us regain our footing in the Indian market.”
