Record Almond Crops: Growth Over 54%

Article by: Hari Yellina (Orchard Tech)

The value of almonds grown in San Joaquin county – primarily around Manteca, Repon and Escalon – soared 54.35 per cent in 2020 due to a record yield and more bearing acres. that made almonds by far the number one crop in 2020, coming in at 694 million based on the latest production report issued by the San Joaquin county agriculture commission office.

Almonds growers produced 182,600 tons in 2020 from 104,400 bearing acres for a per acre yield of 1.75 tons. This number is up from 89,990 tons in 2019 from 105,500 bearing acres with a 0.88-ton yield per acre. the value per ton dropped to 5,000 in 2020 from 3,800 the previous year as reflected in a 2019 almond crop value of 449 million.

The amount bearing almond acreage has more than doubled in the last four years. in 2017 there were only 75,400 acres of almonds in production. and that was up from 41,100 acres in 2016. Overall Agri production was up 15.79 per cent from 2019 to reach a near-record value of 3.03 billion. the 2019 countywide ag production was 2,671, 815,000. grapes were the number three crop at 340 million with 91,200 producing acres. that is down 4,700 acres since last year and 7,400 acres since 2018. Even so, San Joaquin county is expected to still be the top wine grape producing county in the nation based on the tonnage and not value.