Australia could benefit from lessons learned in US

California, the world's largest almond-producing region is coming back in to full production after years of drought. According to Rabobank senior vice president and agricultural economist, Vernon Crowder, the state's almond crop was increasing after reduced water availability led to lower production, reports abc.net.au.Mr Crowder said the increase in nut supply would impact prices, but he was not predicting a dramatic fall in the crop's worth.He said the industry was bouncing back, but Australia could benefit from the lessons the American industry has had to learn around soil and water availability for almonds during drought."California obviously has a lock on the world market. We have 80 per cent, sometimes a little bit more, of the total almond production … we are still driving the market in terms of prices and availability," he said."We saw some significant decreases in yields because of the lack of clean water."That forced down the production and therefore the price had to go to record high levels just to ration the crop throughout the world."We find the current prices, even though they are off significantly from the highs of the last two years, are still very profitable prices, especially with a large crop."

Read more at abc.net.au.