Can birds eat almonds?
Absolutely. My grandfather used to own an almond orchard and at least three birds I know of ate the almonds. magpies, woodpeckers and crows.
How can I invest in almonds?
Your question is not new and recently many institutional investors and hedge funds have gone 'nuts' for the nuts. Many of them team up with the heavyweight investors of almond producing farmland from commodity supplier. Olam in Australia is one such example. Almond as a security is not traded in the exchange. Either the deals can be made Over the Counter (OTC) or you can invest equity in any of the almond farms. The recent increase in demand of almonds over the world and almost unchanged supply has overshooted the price of almonds. You can buy futures in almonds through an online broker account like Ameritrade.The best way to invest is to buy equity in large almond farmlands. The growing demand would escalate the price quickly and you can make quick bucks out of it. Look to own your commodity producing space in an effort to generate returns is the best possible way of investments. However, the initial cost of investment would be very high to make it a very feasible deal. California produces 80% of the almond supply in the world. The production is dropping down driving the increase in cost of once plentiful commodity.In a nutshell, pun intended, the returns are highly attractive as it provides a hedge against inflation.
If I wanted to buy an almond farm in California, are they cheap as a result of the ongoing drought?
We got lots of rain this past year, so the trees are good for now, but water could be an ongoing issue. If you buy an almond farm, look into the water rights that come with the farm (including how much longer they will be in place) and any other water access. Many orchards here had to remove trees and plant saplings because there wasn’t enough water and the trees were dying (saplings require a lot less water than mature, producing trees). Also, due to the drought, a lot of farms were relying heavily on well water, and in some regions the aquifers have been depleted, so well water may not be available as a backup in some places for quite a while.Drought is a normal condition in many parts of California, and there has been an ongoing debate about water use. People in cities are complaining that they aren’t getting enough water, and are blaming agricultural use, to the point that some have proposed that California should eliminate (or at least limit) agriculture. Since this sort of thing is determined by vote, and most of the voters are in the cities, this is something to be concerned about.This view is ironic, since these same city-dwellers are all into organic produce and reducing fossil fuel use, etc.. Where do they think their organic produce comes from? How do they think their food gets to them?An important part of accomplishing environmentally responsible objectives is to grow your food within 20 miles of where you live to maximize freshness and decrease fossil fuel use. This means that people in California should be encouraging development of agricultural belts within and around its cities, rather than trying to eliminate agriculture from the state.The funny thing is, if you have agriculture near a city, or even a suburb (which may have been farmland up until recently) people will complain about the smell of the fertilizer, or the insect population. A well managed organic operation shouldn’t generate many problems in these areas, but some people will move into a home next to a farm and then complain about everything.As with anything worthwhile, the cost will probably be a lot more than the purchase price. You should look into a few things before determining whether it will be worthwhile to you. Good luck!
Can a 10-20 acre orchard in CA be long-term profitable? What would be better: almonds or pistachio?
Of course it can. While I can't answer whether almonds or pistachios are better for your situation, I can tell you that profitable farming can be done in all sizes; microgreens in a shipping container can yield $200,000, sub-acre urban SPIN farming can yield a similar number, pasture can yield $10,000 per acre, chestnuts alone can yield $6,000 per acre average with space to rotationally graze poultry pork or goats underneath. On the other hand, there are farmers going out of business on 1,000 acres, or even more. Your situation governs the system you implement, and your system makes you profitable - or not.In California, don't be afraid to start with earthworks so that your trees don't need irrigation. If farmers started with proper keyline design before planting trees in CA, they would not be losing their trees to drought. Also, don't be afraid to take a short term hit in productivity of your trees by grazing valuable animals underneath and between your trees. RoundUp applied to the dripline of your trees is an expense applied year after year; grazing animals under your trees is a return for you year after year, and both methods can get rid of weeds. The added benefit of animals over roundup is that they turn weeds into fertilizer, and water into fertilized irrigation; the land responds with better growth and deeper soil.
Why are almonds so expensive?
The answer to your question is very simple. Almond cultivation is very expensive. It is a single harvest crop and the average annual produce is only around 2000lbs per acre. It is also a delicate product and needs special attention every step of the way during cultivation. Although modern technology plays a critical part in orchard management yet it still requires major labor input considering the extensive care required to turn out a good quality and abundant crop.Price of Organic Almonds is in fact three times higher than conventional produce, as use of Chemical fertilizers and herbicides is absolutely prohibited. This involves much higher reliance on manual labor to perform critical functions such as weed control. Moreover on an average, organic produce per acre is around 10% lower than conventional Almonds.California produces 80% of the global Almond supply. The severe drought conditions in the past four years seriously impacted Almond orchards across the state, further impacting prices Worldwide.If you wish to learn more about Almond cultivation, applications or recipes please visit www.americanexporthouse.com.
What is the difference between a grove and an orchard?
i'm not sure of the scientific definitions, you should google botany.com for that. this is how i differentiate. a grove produces hard shell nuts like almonds, pecan or coco. an orchard produces soft shell fruits such as apple, pear or plum.. but why do they call a bunch of orange trees a grove?
Why are almonds vegan but honey not?
First of all, are you asking about almonds on vivisection? Testing on animals involves animals partaking in activities which are absolutely involuntary to them. They cause physical and mental harm to the animal, and often end in death. "Exploiting" bees to be used to pollenate trees or plants is vastly incomparable to smoking out the bees and taking their honey. I think you may be confusing veganism with animal rights advocacy groups. Being a vegan, by definition, means eating no animal (or sentient being) products. That's all. A bee is considered to be sentient, and honey is a product of the bee. Therefor vegans cannot eat it. The concern with using bees for pollination falls under animals rights advocacy, as does animal testing. To get back to animal testing, the FDA actually requires that medications first be tested on animals before they can even be approved for human trials. So it's a little ridiculous to insinuate that vegans can't use something that's been tested on animals (although again, technically a vegan is someone who doesn't EAT animal byproducts.) However until science finds a better way of doing things (unfortunately they have, yet vivisection is much less costly than alternative methods) any medication was most likely animal-tested, and there is no way of getting around that. Most vegans tend to purchase products with have no animal by-products in them and which weren't tested on animals, however.