Food And Farm News
8-27-2025
Almond markets jolted by large crop forecast
After farming at a loss for as many as five consecutive years, California almond growers watched prices climb for much of the past year, promising a return to profitability. Then, right before harvest, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released an unexpectedly high crop forecast of 3 billion pounds. “That shocked the market,” said Ali Amin, owner of Primex International Trading, a major nut exporter based in Los Angeles. Anticipating a glut, buyers pulled back, causing almond prices to drop nearly 20% overnight. The reaction erased roughly a billion dollars from the total crop value, and it eliminated the profit margin for many farmers. “You wake up at 5 in the morning and work until 10 at night, and you can’t break even,” said Jasbir Sidhu, who began harvesting almonds in Fresno and Madera counties the first week of August.
High beef prices keep U.S. cattle numbers low
The supply of cattle in the U.S. is historically low, and market dynamics for ranchers could sustain the trend for some time. With their animals earning record-high prices, ranchers are more inclined to sell calves for cash rather than keep them for breeding, growing the nation’s herd. After drought annihilated their herds, many cow-calf operators are “finally getting out of the red a little bit,” Calaveras County rancher Michael David Fischer said, and with current cattle prices “going absolutely crazy, it encourages them to sell.” Abbi Prins, an industry analyst for CoBank in Minnesota, said she expects the size of the nation’s beef cowherd won’t start to see signs of expansion until 2027 because it takes nearly two years for heifer calves born this year to produce their own calves.
Water quality panel focuses on agricultural nitrogen use
As California water officials consider new rules, farmer advocates are pushing back against strict limits on how much nitrogen farmers can apply to their crops. Kari Fisher, senior counsel and director of legal advocacy for the California Farm Bureau, said it is too soon to adopt nitrogen limits, as the industry is still gathering and evaluating data to develop realistic targets. “We have found that the one-size-fits-all nitrogen and application reporting requirements don’t necessarily fit with how agriculture is grown in the state because of differences related to commodity type, where crops are grown and reliance on surface water versus groundwater and the like,” Fisher said.
Report examines how farms cope with labor shortages
Farm labor scarcity is a growing challenge for farmers, particularly in light of the Trump administration’s goals for mass deportations. A new report from the University of California Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics suggests that labor shortages may force some California farmers to alter how they grow crops and manage workers by raising wages, changing cultivation practices, implementing labor-saving technologies and using farm labor contractors. If immigration enforcement targets undocumented farmworkers, California farmers are expected to adopt similar strategies, the report said.
For more information about any story in Food and Farm News, contact the California Farm Bureau Marketing/Communications Division at 916-561-5550 or email news@cfbf.com. Connect with us on Facebook, X, or Instagram: @CAFarmBureau.
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