Annual production volume has had an upward trend although significant variations occur from year to year. Crop price (predictably) is inversely related to production. Source: Almond Board of California California Almond Production Statistics

Crop value is influenced by multiple factors unrelated to applied water. The 2009/10 crop has a value that is 25 percent less than the 2005/06 crop. Value per bearing acre is tied to crop size and market conditions, both of which are unrelated to water consumption. Under perfect economic conditions, crop value per acre would be unchanged from year to year. Source: Almond Board of California California Almond Production Statistics

Unsold crop from the previous year can affect the value of the next year’s crop. Source: Almond Board of California California Almond Production Statistics

Actual crop production can be off by almost 20 percent from estimates. Source: Almond Board of California California Almond Production Statistics

Alternate Benefits Resource-based issues including air quality, energy inputs, chemical applications, etc. impact crop water use but have alternate benefits. Crop water use efficiency is less but reduction of other factors may affect the desirability of the crop for consumers.

Crop/Economic WUE Factors Crop-per-drop and economic efficiency are based on many different variable factors. Market stability is affected by crop size, carryover to next year, “futures markets”, consumer demand, etc. It is difficult or impossible to apply a static value to either crop-based or economic-based efficiency measures because of uncontrolled variables. Third party impacts that occur as a result of land fallowing and water transfers include local businesses, processing infrastructure, decreased land values and property tax reductions…