IN YOUR ORCHARD
THE ALMOND BOARD Before You Plant: Start With the Conversation That Determines Your Orchard’s Future Planting an almond orchard has never been a simple decision. But in today’s margin-tight environment, the choice of rootstock and variety combination is more than an agronomic preference, it is a 20- to 25-year business decision that can shape profitability, harvest efficiency, marketability and long-term risk.
That was the focus of a grower-facing discussion moderated by Almond Board of California’s Michael Roots, with perspectives from Dave Phippen of Travaille and Phippen, Duarte Nursery’s John Arellano and grower Brandon Ribiero, at the 2026 Almond Crack Out event. For growers, the main message was clear. Do not make a planting decision in isolation. A new orchard should begin with a practical, sometimes uncomfortable, conversation about water, soil, rootstock, variety, harvest timing, market demand and, most importantly, economics. “Know Your Breakeven Cost Per Pound” Ribiero put the economics plainly by saying growers should “Know your breakeven cost per pound.” That calculation should sit at the center of every planting conversation. Ribiero described it as a simple equation of cost divided by yield. If a grower expects production costs of $3,500 per acre and assumes 2,500 pounds per acre, the breakeven is about $1.40 per pound. If debt, land costs or other obligations push total costs to $4,500 per acre at the same yield, that breakeven rises to $1.80 per pound. That difference matters. In a market where prices can move quickly and margins can narrow, the wrong yield assumption, or the wrong rootstock and variety combination for a site, can make an orchard difficult to carry through the low points of the price cycle.
Choosing the right rootstock variety combination for your orchard is a 20–25-year business decision.
Ribiero also warned that growers cannot always “save their way to prosperity.” Trimming some costs may help at the margins, but yield is often what moves the breakeven number in a meaningful way. That makes variety performance, rootstock fit and realistic production expectations central to the decision. Start With Water, Soil and Site Limitations Before selecting a variety, Ribiero said growers should first understand “all things water” like supply, quality and rights. Without water, he noted, the rest of the planting plan loses its foundation. From there, the conversation moves to soil. The right rootstock depends on what the site needs most, including vigor, anchorage, salt tolerance, disease resistance, replant tolerance or other characteristics.
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ALMOND FACTS
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