California Almond Industry

California is a state that is known for multiple things, but one of the most important things is Agriculture. Therefore, it is a necessity to protect agriculture and allow it to continue to increase revenue for the state. To do this, we created our own agency to look after everything agricultural in our state. The California Department of Food and Agriculture ensures the safety and health of various food and crops for controlling the agricultural regularity of all farms and crop growing operations in the state. The agency is overseen by both current California governor Jerry Brown and the branch’s president Craig McNamara. According to their website, “California agriculture is a $46.4 billion dollar industry that generates at least $100 billion

While the Midwest may be “the breadbasket of the United States,” the Central Valley of California is the entire rest of the Thanksgiving meal on the table for the country. With its fertile soil, Mediterranean climate, and expansive flat land, the Central Valley produces more than 250 different crops that produce more than $20 billion annually, meaning it provides over half the produce grown in the United States. Recent droughts, recession, and growing urbanization in California have changed the conversation around farming practices and the large role family farms still play in the state. Popular opinions circulating the urban areas were calling into question the sacrifices farms were making throughout the drought, believing they got a

The Michoacan state in Mexico has become the world’s largest producer of avocadoes. Although this vegetable is grown on farms throughout this state, it is also tied to an integral network of trade and export to countries across the globe. In this essay, I will argue that like any commodity chain study, the production of the organic Hass avocado has an intricate production process, which for my commodity chain study begins in Uruapan, Mexico a town in the state of Michoacan. This analysis has indicated the crucial underlying links to trade, labour, and demand that the export of this vegetable has created throughout North America

“Economists at the University of California, Davis said that agriculture, once a $44 billion annual business in California, will suffer a financial hit of $2.2 billion due to revenue losses and higher water costs” (Associated Press, 2014). Many farmers are going out of business because the production costs have increased with rising inflation, while revenue has decreased. Others have reduced their farmland plantations which decreases the crop production. Some of the affected crops include oranges, pistachios and rice. One example of how this affects the nation is the California almonds. “California [is] the source of eighty percent of the world’s almonds” (Bloomberg, 2014). This year farmers had to come up with new tactics to rescue the nut from drought “by diverting the water used for vegetables and drilling more water wells to keep the trees hydrated” (Bloomberg, 2014). Farmers are not the only group of workers affected by the drought.

During the 1870s to 1930, California agriculture had become a most diverse region of the United States. Its wheat, meat, and crop farming, such as grapes, walnuts, almonds, tomatoes, potatoes, watermelons, plums, etc., became the California’s major export industry, as well as nation’s leading producer. According to The Elusive Eden by Richard B. Rice, William A. Bullough, and Richard J. Orsi, the number of farm in 1925 had grown to more than 136,400 farms, worth than $708 million. Besides the enormous development of the agriculture, California had become the one of the best manufacturing and trading states in America. It dominated the manufacturing industry and trading companies for aircraft factories, lumber factories, steel plants, mining companies, petroleum companies, etc., According to Eric Foner in Give Me Liberty - volume 2, by 1945, California had received one-tenth of all federal spending, and Los Angeles had become the nation’s second largest manufacturing center (863). Paralleled with the economic development were a numerous of organization have been found in California in order to control, regulate, and support the commercial and trading activities, such as the California Fruit Growers’ Exchange, the Representative Assembly of Trade and Labor Unions, the Coast Seamen’s Association, the Federated Iron Trade Council, etc., Although the political reforms in the early 20th century could not address the most of the economic problems and social changes in America, the

This is shown as the price greatly increases and the quantity decreases slightly. It is also important to note that the Acai palm has strict conditions of where is can grow, and although the palm is ecologically sustainable the supply will not continually increase with the demand (Brondizio, 2011). This will cause further problems as the demand continues to grow, the low income families who need the berry as a staple food will be unable to afford acai.

California is often regarded as one of the best places to live in America, and one of its main attractions is the warm weather year-round. However, the consistent heat and lack of rain has caused many droughts in the past and is still a major issue today. California has currently been in a drought for four years and recently it has become a serious problem. While the state has experienced many droughts before, the current drought has already had severe effects on California’s society and economy. If conditions continue to worsen, these effects will not only be devastating for California but also for the whole nation.

Among all the states of the Union, California is probably the most famous both inside the United States and around the world. This fame is based on images made popular through television and the movies, which portray California as a modern, exciting leading edge society. The most important aspect of the California modern economy today is the same as it was to the Natives of California, California Agriculture.

The almond industry is responsible for thousands of jobs and is a very big money maker for the economy. If there aren’t as many almonds produced, the income from these nuts will drastically drop. Another factor is the nut itself changing. "Water is a huge challenge," said Richard Waycott, chief executive of the state almond board. The stingy water supplies resulted in smaller almonds this year. (Pierson). People love almonds for their size and health benefits. “Almonds are an excellent source of Vitamin E, B Vitamins, Magnesium, Fiber, Calcium, Potassium, Monounsaturated Fat, and Protein” (Almond Growth Explained). This is a reason why the export of almonds overseas to other countries is a big deal. The health benefits are key to the success of the almond. The expectations of farmers are high to produce enough almonds to fulfill the growing demands. Even if the amount was the same, the size of almonds would make a big difference in consumers buying them. “Still, with almond prices nearly doubling in the last five years to $2.58 a pound, it's little wonder that growers have been abandoning crops such as cotton and furiously planting almond trees.”

Breamer, J. (2009). Demand for corn and soybeans continue in 2010. High Plains Journal, (53), Retrieved from http://www.hpj.com/archives/2009/dec09/dec28/1228CropOutlookwspeakerpicj.cfm

The late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century trends towards the continuing integration of the world economy have attracted the attention of geographers who seek to assess the impacts that globalization processes have at various geographic scales.1 The banana has a rich history of globalization, and for this reason, this essay will explore the commodity chain that shows the trajectory that the banana takes in order to be produced in the Caribbean, Latin America and elsewhere, then transported through the sea, next entering grocery stores throughout the world and finally consumed in the homes of millions. Commodity chain analyses allow modern day geographers to understand the process in which a resource is

The author of the book, “The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World” (2008), Dan Koeppel, who is a famous journalist describes in a fascinating way banana’s cultural importance, threats associated with the crops of banana in the future and banana’ history. Banana is a very delicious fruit and is eaten all over the world. Banana is one of the world’s fourth largest harvests in the world. Dole and Chiquita are eminent American based distributors and producers of banana. They are claiming to produce the banana on low price. In this book, Koeppel discusses the risks associated to the plantation of banana around the world. He also discusses the fact that due to blight, the plantation of banana is destroyed (Koeppel, 2008). He points out that the farmers and the producers have no insight at all regarding this matter (Koeppel, 2008).

“Historically, the banana trade symbolized economic imperialism, injustices in the global trade market, and the exploitation of agriculture-dependent third-world countries”(2). However, they remain to be one of the most profitable items in grocery stores. Making bananas crucial to economic and global food stability for countries all over the world. They are the third largest staple crop, coming only after wheat and coffee. Since bananas are such a sought after fruit, many companies have gone to extensive lengths in the to fight for a share of the market. Chiquita Brands International was one of the pioneer companies to try and globalize bananas. They took a risk and made some very critical mistakes along the way.

The environment in which Armor Seed faces can be grim at times. Companies in the agricultural economy are finding ways to reduce costs in order to survive this recession. Through all of this, the input sector continues to post significant profit margins and high volumes of sales. In this particular area, Armor is what the Boston Consulting Group Matrix would call a “star” because they are experiencing growth from new customers and they have a strong market presence in our area. By including a number of different crop seeds, we can predict that Armor will continue to expand

Six firms dominated the banana industry in the early 1990’s, three from Europe and three from the United States. In 1994, the three United States producers, Chiquita, Dole, and Del Monte, accounted for approximately 72.4% of world banana sales. Chiquita accounted for 48% of worldwide banana sales and 66.4% of banana sales of the three U.S. producers.