The Almond Board recently held its annual Almond Sustainability Tour, bringing together representatives from various state organizations, along with researchers and almond board leaders to hear about the ways the almond industry continues to improve sustainability. Sabrina Hill reports.
Key points included the fact that almonds use less than 8 percent of the state’s agricultural water, and that more than 70 percent of almond orchards are on water efficient microirrigation systems. This decreases water runoff and puts water in the root zone, thus allowing for precise timing and rate of irrigation.
This year the tour was in Western Fresno County, and hosted by Dennis Jizmejian with Bill Diedrich Farms. Jizmejian is a fifth-generation California farmer, who started farming himself about six years ago. He tells us why he decided to host the tour this year.