FACTSHEET • MAY 2016
ALMONDS & WATER 101
Know the Facts about California Almonds, Agriculture and Water Use
• According to the Public Policy Institute of California,
agriculture uses 41 percent of California’s total water
supply – not 80 percent as often quoted. 1
Required
Delta Outflow
7%
• Of the almond acreage planted in the last 10-15 years,
96% lies within the Central Valley’s historic irrigated
area. 4 Nearly a quarter of almond orchards planted
during that time were almond orchard replants. Other
almond acreage planted replaced both perennial and
annual crops such as cotton, vineyards, alfalfa, and
more. 5
Irrigated
Agriculture
41%
Almonds
(9.5% of
Irrigated Ag or
4% of total)
Urban
10%
CALIFORNIA'S MANAGED WATER
Source: CA DWR. California Water Plan Update 2013.
4
NET WATER USE PER ACRE
3.5
acre-foot
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Source: UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. California WaterBlog.
1000
800
50
600
40
30
400
20
200
0
Sources: CA DWR. California Water Plan Update 2013.
USDA-NASS. 2013 California Almond Acreage Report.
10
0
million acre-feet
60
acres (1,000)
• Some have suggested that the shift
towards higher value, perennial crops like
nuts and wine grapes have led to an
increase in agricultural water use. But
according to the Department of Water
Resources, the total amount of
agricultural water has held steady since
2000 and actually declined over a
longer period. Meanwhile, the value per
gallon has increased. 6
Wild and
Scenic Rivers
31%
Managed
Wetlands
2%
• Despite all the focus on almonds recently, almonds
make up approximately 14 percent of the state’s total
irrigated farmland and use 9.5 percent of the state’s
agricultural (not total) water. 2 Growing almond trees –
with nutritious almonds, by-product utilization and
economic value – is a worthwhile use of 9.5 percent of
California’s agricultural water.
• All food takes water to grow and almond trees use
about the same amount of water as other California
fruit and nut trees. 3 What’s more, almond trees actually
grow three things - the kernel that we eat, hulls that are
used as livestock feed, reducing the amount of water
used to grow other feed crops and shells which go to
alternative farming uses like livestock bedding.
Instream Flow
9%
MORE
ALMONDS
DOES NOT
EQUAL
MORE
WATER
Almond Acres
Applied Ag Water Use
(MAF)
1
Public Policy Institute of California. Water for Farms. Apr. 2015.
USDA. 2012 Census of Agriculture. May 2014. California Department of Water Resources. California Water Plan Update 2013: Volume 1. Oct. 2014. USDA-NASS. 2015
Almond Acreage Report. Apr. 2016.
3
Larry Schwankl, et al. Understanding your Orchard's Water Requirements. University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Publication 8212. Feb.
2010.
4
Land IQ. Historic Irrigation Extent Analysis. Mar. 2016. Based on imagery from June 15th, 1993 through September 15th, 1998 provided by the U.S. Geological Survey.
5
Land IQ. Previous Crop Analysis. Feb. 2016. Based on data from 2014 almond acreage mapping and California Department of Water Resources County Land Use Surveys
(http://www.water.ca.gov/landwateruse/lusrvymain.cfm).
6
California Department of Water Resources. California Water Plan Update 2013: Volume 4. Feb. 2015.
2
1150 Ninth St., Ste. 1500 • Modesto, CA 95354 USA • T: +1.209.549.8262 • F: +1.209.549.8267 • Almonds.com
FACTSHEET • MAY 2016
•
•
Almond growers have adopted efficiency measures
above average for California farmers; 70 percent of
almond growers use micro-irrigation systems and
more than 80 percent use demand-based irrigation
scheduling. 7 We expect those numbers to continue to
grow over time. Over the past two decades, we’ve
reduced the amount of water it takes to grow a pound of
almonds by 33 percent, thanks in part to these
advancements. 8
ALMONDS
CALIFORNIA
Flood
16%
Flood
43%
Microirrigation
42%
Sprinkler
13%
Microirrigation
70%
Sprinkler
15%
IRRIGATION METHOD USED
A report from UC Davis estimates that in 2015 the
drought significantly impacted Central Valley farmers.
Source: CA DWR. California Water Plan Update 2013.
In total, farmers received 48% less surface water than
they would in a normal year and fallowed 540,000 acres. 21,000 full and part-time jobs were lost and
impacts to agriculture cost $2.7 billion to the California economy. 9
• Agriculture is an economic imperative to the population of the largest region of the state – the Central
Valley. A report from the University of California Agricultural Issues Center finds that of the 104,000 jobs
almonds alone contribute to California, 97,000 of them are in the Central Valley. As the report’s author
notes, “These jobs are vital in a region that has long had high unemployment.” 10
To learn more about almonds and water, please visit Almonds.com/Water.
7
California Almond Sustainability Program. Jan. 2014.
University of California. UC Drought Management. Feb. 2010. Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 66 – Crop yield in response
to water. 2012. Almond Board of California. Almond Almanac 1990-94, 2000-14.
9
Richard Howitt, et al. Economic Analysis of the 2015 Drought for California Agriculture. University of California, Davis. Aug. 2015.
10
University of California Agricultural Issues Center. The Economic Impacts of the California Almond Industry. Dec. 2014.
8
Document# 2015CN0072
1150 Ninth St., Ste. 1500 • Modesto, CA 95354 USA • T: +1.209.549.8262 • F: +1.209.549.8267 • Almonds.com