Merbein almond grower Neale Bennett has been rubbing shoulders with the industry’s heavyweights in the US and has come home filled with enthusiasm for the coming season.

A season he admits, on his own property, will most likely be average at best.

But says after a few challenging years for the industry – here and around the world – all the other indicators are starting to point in the right direction. 

Neale was part of an Amond Board of Australia delegation to the annual California Almond Conference in Sacramento late last year – with that one US state producing 80 per cent of the world’s almonds.

“It was a pretty good visit, and most people were talking about better times,” Neale told North West Farmer this week.

“I know people have all heard enough about Covid but that was when things all started going wrong for us, and the big problem was shipping, we simply could not get enough of it, get it on time in or out, and that had a major impact on shopping trends and people’s tastes,” he explained.

“Since then, we have all been working hard to get us back to what everyone wants to call then new normal – and that’s what we think we might be seeing now.”

Neale added the California show was an eye-opener in technology to improve efficiencies and nut quality.

He said there was also plenty of signs artificial intelligence is being increasingly employed in a wide range of applications, extending from robotic farmer equipment to sorting equipment.

“Covid also changed labour patterns and that’s something which has not bounced back as quickly – and at the same time everyone in the industry has faced, and still is facing, increased input costs, increased power costs, fertiliser costs, labour costs, all of them keep going up when the price doesn’t,” Neale said.

“Which is why everyone is looking at all technology – and that includes AI – to help bridge the gap between cost of production of cost of product,” he said.

“Anything from here on which can save us time and/or labour is crucial, and I would see AI as the next progression in that cycle.”

Neale said while that pivotal shift in the production change evolves, things are moving faster on the market front.

He said with more secure supply channels and the fact both the Australian and US carryover has been all but cleared, demand in the year ahead should continue to grow.

“Don’t ever think demand for almonds wasn’t still there, it’s just that when people couldn’t get them that skewed market demand – most nuts, peanuts, macadamias, hazelnuts and others all took a hit, although pistachios were able to ride it out better than most,” Neale said.

“The past 12 months have seen prices trending upwards, a welcome sign in the post-Covid years,” he said.

The Sunraysia almond harvest may well be started by the end of this month, or early February, and Neale described the local season as “not looking too bad”.

He said the reason forecasts are a bit lower is because the past couple of years have had wet and mild springs, which has thrown trees and affected the fertiliser uptake as things were really out of balance.

“This season has been warmer and trees have been converting fertiliser into growth and helping get our trees rebalanced,” Neale explained.

“That means this season won’t be huge, but it will be OK, and the recovery in orchards will set us up for the years ahead, to match the rejuvenated market conditions.”

To maximise those conditions, the ABA delegation reported both the Californians and Australia’s marketing teams are employing a multi-faceted strategic plan across key global markets deliver a consistent message around what almonds can deliver consumers.

The latest Australian Almond sales report has highlighted the importance of China and Indian export markets, and the strong demand almonds continue to enjoy. In the past eight months the industry has sold almost as many tonnes as it did for the previous 12 months, and it is hoped this demand will continue.