USA: Climate and nuts in California

California walnut production continues to grow and expand north of the Central Valley, with crops reaching 1,600 hectares in 2022, and total production volumes of 752,000 tons. This year's record rainfall in the state has been very positive for walnut trees, leading to historic projections for the harvest, which is expected to reach 790,000 tons. "Starting in January, rain hit California almost constantly, reaching more than 200% of normal precipitation in some places," Tapan Pathak, a climate adaptation specialist in agriculture at the University of California, Merced, shared during a presentation. at the 2023 Exponut that took place last week in Santiago, Chile. Pathak explains that rainfall helped build the salt profile in the trees and that the cold winter, without many heat events, created an "ideal situation" for the growth of walnut trees. The El Niño phenomenon, which California is currently experiencing, is unpredictable, there are very wet years and others that are not, ...