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Was NASS' 3-Billion-Pound Almond Crop Estimate Overly Optimistic?
Farm Progress - August 6, 2025
The board noted the 2025 crop year has been challenging, with several weather events during bloom, wet conditions that prevented access, and “tremendous” input cost pressures on farmers. As stated in the Land IQ 2025 Initial Acreage Estimate, bearing acres are nearly flat to last year, following three years of decreasing non-bearing acreage.
Abandoned Crops Bring Pest Plague to Adjacent Farms
Ag Alert - July 16, 2025
California farmers, agricultural commissioners and lawmakers have in recent months sounded an alarm about a troubling symptom of the state’s struggling farm economy. “Everywhere you turn there’s an abandoned vineyard,” said Randy Baranek, project manager for the Stanislaus County-based agricultural service provider Fowler Brothers. He estimated there are twice as many untended grapevines in the Central Valley this year than he has ever seen. “It’s a mess.” It isn’t only vineyards. Tens of thousands of acres of almond orchards have been left unmanaged, according to a 2024 report by Land IQ.
Landsat at Work: Satellites Help with Complex Crop and Water Issues
USGS - Earth Resources Observation and Science Center - May 6, 2025
Groundwater is a crucial source of water for California, especially for its $59 billion agriculture industry.
But even when the water is underground, Landsat satellites that observe the Earth’s land surface can still help growers monitor it. In just one example of the benefits of monitoring, growers in a 100,000-acre area of California—an area about the size of Bakersfield—saw a 13% reduction in groundwater pumping in the first year of using information derived from Landsat and other sources. That resulted in savings of roughly $40 million.
Kern Again Leads State in Uprooting Almond Trees
Bakersfield Californian - April 28, 2025
Kern County has again led the state in uprooting almond orchards as the industry settles into a more profitable balance between supply and demand. The total number of acres removed in Kern from Sept. 1 to March 31, estimated at 8,138 by Sacramento-based Land IQ, represents almost 16% of the state's total. The county with the second-highest total was Fresno County's 5,355 acres removed, followed by 3,607 in Merced County.
Calif. Almond Acreage Continues to Decline
Farm Progress - November 26, 2024
California’s meteoric rise in total almond acreage is now in decline, though bearing acreage figure remains at a record high. Total almond acreage fell for the third consecutive year to just over 1.5 million acres, according to a report by Land IQ, a Sacramento-based agricultural and environmental research and consulting firm. The report reveals a drop of about 40,000 acres from the previous crop year.
New SLO County Program to Help Farmers Pump Less Water from Paso Robles Basin. Here's How
San Luis Obispo Tribune - October 9, 2024
San Luis Obispo County is developing a program that will encourage farmers to pump less water from the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to approve a contract with the Los Angeles-based consultant Land IQ to design the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin Multibenefit Irrigated Land Repurposing Program, also known as the MILR Program.
New Report Indicates California's Bearing Almond Acreage Decreased
National Nut Grower - April 24, 2024
Land IQ’s 2024 Standing Acreage Initial Estimate issued Wednesday looked at bearing acreage – orchards planted before 2022 and that have matured enough to produce a crop for the coming 2024 harvest. It estimated that bearing almond orchards at harvest will cover 1.373 million acres across California, a decrease of about 600 acres.
California Almond Acreage Drops Again in 2023
California Ag Network - December 4, 2023
California’s total almond acreage dropped again in 2023, this time by about 74,000 acres, making two years in a row that acreage has decreased, something that has not happened since at least 1995, according to a new report from Land IQ to the Almond Board of California (ABC).
Land IQ Brings Accuracy to the Nut Industry with Crop Mapping and Ground Truthing
West Coast Nut - July 1, 2023
In 2011, based on production levels, growers on the Almond Board of California (ABC) suspected acreage reports from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) were too low. They asked Land IQ for a second opinion.
Tackling the No. 1 Enemy for Almonds - Naval Orangeworm
Growing Produce - March 21, 2023
Having worked as the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Area Integrated Pest Management Advisor in the nut-rich North San Joaquin Valley for several years, Jhalendra Rijal has long studied the most damaging pest in both almonds and pistachios.
California Almond Acreage Drops For the First Time in Decades
Pacific Nut Producer - December 23, 2022
California’s almond acreage decreased for the first time in more than 25 years, according to a new report from Land IQ to the Almond Board of California (ABC).
California Almond Acreage Shrinks for First Time in 25 Years
The Packer - December 14,2022
California’s tight water restrictions and low precipitation continues to challenge even the most creative farmers and ranchers. A recent report by Land IQ, commissioned by the Almond Board of California, confirms that even the resourceful almond industry has felt the sting of drought conditions.
Adding Data to Experience
Irrigation Today - April 5, 2022
Understanding and dealing with water regulation is a continuing reality for growers, particularly in the western United States. Some growers, working with local districts, are trying to get ahead of reduced water allotments by getting a better irrigation data-driven understanding of how much water the crops are actually using by monitoring evapotranspiration.
With an Eye on Every Field in California, Land IQ Watches Water Use
ESRI Blog - February 24, 2022
When it comes to agriculture in California—where the US draws more than a third of its vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts—one company keeps an eye on water usage to ensure the resource remains sustainable.
Land IQ Leverages SecureWatch to Determine Land Use Change in California
MAXAR Blog - October 25, 2021
Land use data is critically important to the work of the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and other state, regional and local agencies as they work to implement California’s first groundwater regulation, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).
Satellites Reveal the Secrets of Water Guzzling Farms in California
NPR - October 18, 2021
In a new push to stop further depletion of California's shrinking aquifers, state regulators are turning to technology once used to count Soviet missile silos during the Cold War: satellites.