Markets/Trade
- Mark Jansen reports on the Almond Insights blog that almond prices rose steadily throughout January with new crop commitments coming in at a brisk pace. North American and European demand continue to grow, and 68-69% of the 2013 crop is already committed entering the 2014 bloom resulting in tight supplies.
Production
- Mark Jansen on the Almond Insights blog reports on the progress of this year’s almond bloom, noting that the bloom is progressing well though cool weather continues to slow development in some central areas. Growers are busy advancing disease control efforts.
- The Almond Board of California reports in their monthly Outlook newsletter that almond growers should be on the lookout for 3 diseases this season, band canker disease, bacterial spot, and brown rot. Band canker disease has no chemical cure so growers should focus on prevention, while bacterial spot is a relatively new disease that caused a critical situation in some orchards last season. Brown rot is easily controlled, but growers should pay attention to conditions before applying fungicides to maximize efficacy and prevent unnecessary stress to bee populations.
