California is the U.S. leader in both dairy and almond production, and it illustrates the rise in popularity of almond milk while Americans are cutting back on milk from dairy cows, says Bloomberg. With a bit of a push from the multi-year drought, some dairy farmers are converting their fields to almond groves for a higher return per acre.
A Singapore-based company recently bought an 8,000-cow dairy farm near Bakersfield so it could plant almonds and pistachios. Dairy farmer Richard Wagner, from Escalon, told Bloomberg, “The economics for the trees has been very good. Dairymen have a decision.” A Rabobank executive said he expects pressure will remain strong to plant almond trees for the next few years.
“Demand for nuts has gone insane,” says Bloomberg, citing heady demand for almonds worldwide. Almond milk is a factor, too. Americans spent $890 million on almond milk last year, three times as much as they spent on soy milk. Sales of low-fat and skim milk totaled $9.2 billion, according to IRI, a market research company.