America’s pistachio production is booming
Consumers at home and abroad are shelling out for pistachios — and America’s farmers are turning to the hardier crop in response.
America has long held a love for all things pistachio, with the shelled nut, or at least some derivative of it, being added to Starbucks beverages, Disneyland Dole Whips, and even cult fragrances. Now, US farmers are riding the surge in demand, with pistachios becoming California’s sixth-largest agricultural commodity (by value), beating out tomatoes, carrots, and strawberries over the past decade.
Tough nuts
For centuries a mainstay of Italian cooking, pistachios have taken off in the US recently — and, as public interest has mounted, farmers in California, where more than three-quarters of America’s fruit and nuts are grown, have turned to the hardier pistachio tree over more sensitive crops.
In the 2023-24 season, the US produced almost 676,000 metric tons of pistachios, up 69% from the year prior, compared with a 9% increase in walnut production and a 4% decline in almond production over the same period. Though much of America’s pistachio haul ends up in international markets — US shipments to China nearly doubled last year — the reasons behind the pivot are closer to home soil.
Looking at California in particular, pistachio crops generated almost $3 billion in the state last year, according to the CDFA. That same year, almonds brought in $3.9 billion… down significantly from 2019-20, when the crop generated some ~$6 billion.
For a long time the darling of California’s nut exports, almond production has waned as rising temperatures, volatile rainfall, and droughts have become increasingly common in the state, making the water-intensive crop less appealing. By contrast, pistachio trees are estimated to require ~1,200 cubic meters less water per acre than almond trees, and can also go for longer without water — an attractive proposition to those grappling with California’s groundwater-use limits.
But, as farmers look to cash in on “green gold,” they’ll likely take lessons from last decade’s almond boom: a postpandemic glut of almonds saw prices for the commodity drop to a 20-year low in 2022.
