Some lessons from the 2023 almond harvest in southwestern Spain
The 2023 almond harvest campaign in southwestern Spain presented formidable challenges, shaped by the interplay of climatic, regulatory, and operational issues that profoundly impacted the production and economic performance of almond plantations. In this post, we share our experiences regarding the defining aspects of the 2023 campaign and we aim to address some strategies employed to navigate these complexities.
The issue of water scarcity: inadequate rainfall and irrigation deficiencies significantly affected water availability in almond orchards. In general terms, fruit size and gross production were considerably affected by water constraints, which will impact growers' net incomes and affect the dynamics of the return on investments.
Many growers keep facing large obstacles in licensing private water storage and on-farm regulation infrastructures, highlighting the vulnerability of certain agricultural operations and emphasizing the urgency of improving water resilience in long-term agricultural planning.
Regulatory modifications, particularly the introduction of new irrigation limits in important hydrographic regions: this issue added further intricacies, leading to tensions within plantations striving to endure drought conditions. These challenges underscore the necessity for well-informed and collaborative regulatory planning, aligning public policies with the water requirements of contemporary agricultural land uses.
In the realm of eco-physiology, the campaign provided insights into the resilience of almond crops under good agronomic practices: trees adapted admirably to highly adverse conditions through efficient plant-water regulation and carbon balance adjustments. In this context, marginal water productivity (i.e., the additional unit of product per additional unit of water) and overall irrigation efficiency were reasonably well sustained, especially when considering those cases where water usage levels exceeded 45% of total crop water needs.
The emergence of new logistical challenges as plantation acreage expands rapidly: Ensuring pre-harvest irrigation, crucial for hull splitting, and synchronizing an increasing amount of different harvest operations due to expanded plantation areas. This requires additional efforts with investments in field technology, reliable access to labor, and implementing data-driven operational management, all of which have proven indispensable in the best cases.
The 2023 almond harvest campaign highlighted the intricate interplay of climate, regulations, technology, and market in modern agriculture, emphasizing the need for “more conservative” investment modelling, proactive planning, technological investments, and overall flexible management capacity.