September's Global Update highlights from the Global, Technical and Regulatory Affairs team at the Almond Board of California. Today's Almond Byte covers the removal of retaliatory tariffs on almonds in India, an update on the the Pre-Export Check (PEC) modifications being made for the UK, regulatory and political updates affecting clarity in the European Union market, and a new contract is in place between western docks and their workers.

Bikram Hundal is the vice president of operations for Custom Almonds and Sequoia Nut Company. Hundal shares how technology is changing the game in almond processing with optical sorters, artificial intelligence, robotics and other advancements. This technology allows for potential opportunities for data to be shared between growers, hullers and processors to capture more value for everyone involved. An engineer by training, Hundal previously held positions with equipment manufacturer Massey Ferguson and the Fresno County Public Works Department before transitioning into the almond industry.

“If we really think about it, there's literally no waste that is out there in almonds. With other commodities, they have to say ‘oh we throw those away’ for instance with the hulls. But for almonds, we have a great use for every part of the almond throughout its whole life cycle.” - Bikram Hundal

In Today’s episode:

• Meet Bikram Hundal the vice president of operations for Custom Almonds and Sequoia Nut Company
• Discover Hundals journey into almonds and the new technology he is excited about expanding within the almond industry
• Explore some of the industry-wide improvements that are occurring as result of COVID challenges

ABC Update

A standardized system of almond grading helps to ensure confidence in the quality and consistency of almonds purchased for various uses. Just last week, the Almond Board of California released an instructive video that explains USDA grades and standards. Jenny Nicolau, senior manager of industry relations and communications at the Almond Board highlights this five-minute video that outlines the sampling and grading process.

Watch the video: “Understanding Almond USDA Grades and Standards”

The Almond Journey Podcast is brought to you by the Almond Board of California. This show explores how growers, handlers, and other stakeholders are making things work in their operations to drive the almond industry forward. Host Tim Hammerich visits with leaders throughout the Central Valley of California and beyond who are finding innovative ways to improve their operations, connect with their communities, and advance the almond industry.

ABC recognizes the diverse makeup of the California almond industry and values contributions offered by its growers, handlers, and allied industry members. However, the opinions, services and products discussed in existing and future podcast episodes are by no means an endorsement or recommendation from ABC. The Almond Journey podcast is not an appropriate venue to express opinions on national, state, local or industry politics. As a Federal Marketing Order, the Almond Board of California is prohibited from lobbying or advocating on legislative issues, as well as setting field and market prices.

August's Marketing Bulletin from the Almond Board of California.

California Almonds are going Prime Time! The Almond Board of California (ABC) is launching a new one-of-a-kind partnership of legends with the one and only Coach Prime himself, Deion Sanders. Coach Prime is a legendary, multi-sport athlete turned coach and almonds are a legendary, multi-benefit packed snack with promising new research around exercise recovery. Both continually redefine what is possible.

In the biggest celebrity partnership ABC has taken part in, Deion Sanders will bring excitement and his iconic boldness to promote a groundbreaking research study around the exercise recovery benefits of almonds. The Own Your Prime campaign will give an inside look at what keeps Prime in his prime: consistency, hard work and recovering with almonds. 

The Own Your Prime campaign will come to life in the US market, launching at the beginning of the NCAA football season with advertisements airing on national and cable TV on CBS, Fox, ESPN and CBS Sports. The fully integrated campaign will run for 9 months, including a robust advertising, digital, social and public relations program. The campaign will even include retail advertising in select California stores on grocery carts and in the snack nut aisle.

Representing approximately 30% of total almond shipments, the US continues to be the number one destination for California Almonds. Consumers have very positive perceptions of almonds, rating them as not only one of the healthiest nuts, but one of the healthiest snacks. Despite these positive perceptions, the US has been facing significant headwinds stemming from unprecedented macro forces that are impacting almond consumption, such as changes in how we eat coming out of COVID, evolving perspectives on health and wellness, food inflation and increased competitive pressures. The Own Your Prime campaign comes at a great time to reach a broad audience and help, in part, to offset these headwinds and by bringing excitement and new meaningful news to consumers.

The goal of the Own Your Prime campaign is to appeal to a broad US audience and break through the competitive clutter in a bold way. This campaign will showcase new nutrition research findings of almonds and provoke consumers to rethink almonds and the value they deliver. Coach Prime will help translate the exercise research findings to increased almond consumption by showing consumers how to own their prime. Learn more about the campaign at Almonds.com/OwnYourPrime.

Several new almond marketing tactics for the India market will soon kick off as well, headlined by promotions around the ICC Cricket World Cup that will be back in India for the first time in 12 years.

The campaign is an opportunity to highlight the energy benefits of almonds as ads will run during the ICC Cricket World Cup in October and most of November, utilizing 10-second commercials that highlight those attributes of almonds. Tactics will also include billboards and bus shelters across the key markets of Delhi and Mumbai.

The ICC World Cup promotion also coincides with Diwali (Nov. 12), India’s biggest and most important holiday of the year. The event is a five-day-long festival of lights, joy, prosperity and happiness. It is a time of traditions during festival celebrations which includes the giving of food as gifts.

Highlights reviewing the crop season from August's Global Update, from the Global, Technical and Regulatory Affairs team at the Almond Board of California, in today's Almond Byte.

A major challenge this year was implementation of China’s Decree 248 requiring food facilities exporting food to China to finalize online CIFER registrations by June 30, 2023. ABC took the lead in assisting FDA complete these registrations managed by China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC). It was often hit and miss – since Jan 2022, at least 50-60 containers of almonds worth more than $10 million were held up in China due to minor administrative issues related to GACC registrations.

Through persistence and collaboration with FDA and USDA, most of the containers were eventually released into China. By the end of June, 65 handlers had finalized their registrations with GACC (valid for the next 5 years). ABC is now working with FDA to develop a system to assist “new” companies to register with GACC.

ABC continues to monitor Farm to Fork and Green Deal policies that will impact almond exports to European Union (EU). Several Farm to Fork policies are facing headwinds within Europe due to a variety of factors – the Pandemic, economic conditions and the impact of the ongoing war in the Ukraine on energy and food prices. ABC has worked with European partners to ensure industry concerns are shared with government officials.

Import inspections in the EU were another challenge this year due to inspection inconsistency and increased infestation detections resulting from large crops combined with logistical challenges. This past year, ABC worked with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service to help clear around 10 stuck shipments due to lack of Pre-Export Check certification, incorrect interpretation of import control rules and other issues. ABC is continuing to monitor the situation and is providing input to the EU Commission regarding import control guidance which should help harmonize industry experience across member states.

This past year, a more comprehensive trade strategy was developed to guide ABC priorities. The plan was rolled out to committees and the Board of Directors and the strategy identifies potential tariff reductions and technical barriers, while leveraging industry partner associations to amplify almond priorities – a key element to finding solutions to technical barriers to trade as we expand exports into new horizon markets.

The Global, Technical and Regulatory Affairs team at ABC has engaged with several international delegations this year including a Vietnamese team of importers and processors, a Pakistani delegation at the Gulfood Show in Dubai, the Turkish Nut Trade Association, and most recently a Vice Minister’s delegation from China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

In this episode, we visit with Brandon Rebiero, co-founder and the head of farming at Gold Leaf Farming. Rebiero, who also serves on the board of directors for The Almond Board of California, discusses a recent trip to Washington, D.C. There, a small group of Almond Board directors and staff met with leaders, regulators and other key partners to discuss relevant issues impacting the almond industry.

“They're definitely getting our message and obviously it's a big ship and slow to turn, but I felt pretty confident that we're doing everything within our bandwidth to effect change.” - Brandon Rebiero

In Today’s episode:

• Meet Brandon Rebiero, co-founder and head of farming at Gold Leaf Farming and member of the Almond Board of California Board of Directors
• Learn about a recent trip to Washington, D.C. on behalf of the almond industry and the impressions it left on Rebiero
• Discover what excites Rebiero most about the new Almond Board of California (ABC) CEO, Clarice Turner

ABC Update:

There is a lot of work happening year-round to deal with important regulatory issues that impact the almond industry. Almond Board of California Vice President of Global Technical and Regulatory Affairs (GTRA) Julie Adams shares more about the work her team does, the value of trips like the one highlighted in this episode and the significant outcomes that this work achieves.

“What we tend to do is try and form relationships, partnerships and really good networks to hear what's coming so we can be kind of an early warning system for the industry – to the extent of possibly heading things off before they become issues. I'd say that’s really the challenge for us.” - Julie Adams

Learn more about the work of the GTRA team and committee by listening to the monthly Almond Bytes and reading the Global Updates. 

The Almond Journey Podcast is brought to you by the Almond Board of California. This show explores how growers, handlers, and other stakeholders are making things work in their operations to drive the almond industry forward. Host Tim Hammerich visits with leaders throughout the Central Valley of California and beyond who are finding innovative ways to improve their operations, connect with their communities, and advance the almond industry.

ABC recognizes the diverse makeup of the California almond industry and values contributions offered by its growers, handlers, and allied industry members. However, the opinions, services and products discussed in existing and future podcast episodes are by no means an endorsement or recommendation from ABC. The Almond Journey podcast is not an appropriate venue to express opinions on national, state, local or industry politics. As a Federal Marketing Order, the Almond Board of California is prohibited from lobbying or advocating on legislative issues, as well as setting field and market prices.

Lucas Schmidt, the vice president and chief operating officer of Grow West and Almond Leadership Program graduate, joined the journey to reflect on some of the challenges in the industry over the past few years including supply chain disruptions, interest rate hikes and inflation. He said these recent experiences emphasize the need for planning, budgeting, and really knowing the people you rely on to do business.

“You've gotta be grounded with the day-to-day, but also be looking ahead to try to make sure your plans align to what's coming. The deeper you can get within your supply partners and business partners is so key.” - Lucas Schmidt

In Today’s episode:

• Meet Lucas Schmidt, the vice president and chief operating officer of Grow West
• Discover recent almond industry challenges and how the industry has needed to pivot its efforts to recover
• Learn about Schmidt’s experience with the Almond Leadership Program and the many benefits he found working through it
• Read Schmidt’s Growing Together Summer 2023 blog about the importance of planning

To learn more about the Almond Leadership Program, please visit www.almonds.com/AlmondLeadershipProgram or contact Rebecca Bailey at [email protected].

The Almond Journey Podcast is brought to you by the Almond Board of California. This show explores how growers, handlers, and other stakeholders are making things work in their operations to drive the almond industry forward. Host Tim Hammerich visits with leaders throughout the Central Valley of California and beyond who are finding innovative ways to improve their operations, connect with their communities, and advance the almond industry.

ABC recognizes the diverse makeup of the California almond industry and values contributions offered by its growers, handlers, and allied industry members. However, the opinions, services and products discussed in existing and future podcast episodes are by no means an endorsement or recommendation from ABC. The Almond Journey podcast is not an appropriate venue to express opinions on national, state, local or industry politics. As a Federal Marketing Order, the Almond Board of California is prohibited from lobbying or advocating on legislative issues, as well as setting field and market prices.

Highlights from July's Global Update, from the Global, Technical and Regulatory Affairs team at the Almond Board of California, in today's Almond Byte.

ABC Visit to DC Coincides with India Tariff Reductions

The annual Almond Board of California (ABC) industry delegation visit to Washington DC coincided this year with the first State Visit of India’s Prime Minister Modi. During the week of June 19th, the delegation met with several U.S. government officials including Ambassador McKalip, the United States Trade Representative Chief Agricultural Negotiator, as well as with the United States Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti. Discussions have been held with U.S. officials for many months/years about the importance of the almond trade with India and the negative impacts of retaliatory tariffs. This has been compounded by the favorable trade agreement recently concluded between India and Australia which benefits Australian almonds exported to the Indian market.

On June 22nd, Indian and U.S. Government officials announced that retaliatory tariffs (Section 232) applied to imports of U.S. almonds into India will be removed within the next 90 days. The tariffs will be dropped to India’s bound rates of 35 rps/kg for inshell and 100 rps/kg for shelled almonds. While this is great news, we are still at a competitive disadvantage with Australia – whose duty rate is 50% lower. ABC staff will monitor India’s implementation date, and advise when it is published. For more info, please contact [email protected].

UK PEC Update

Great Britain (GB) is in the process of revising regulations that it retained from the European Union (EU) post-Brexit. This includes EU regulation 2015/949, which governs the Pre-Export Check (PEC) program that recognizes California almonds for a reduced inspection rate upon arrival in the EU. Following discussions between AMS, ABC, and UK authorities, UK authorities indicated they will continue to recognize PEC but will require changes to the existing EU PEC certificate. The UK indicated its flexibility in certificate format, allowing us to leverage existing PEC procedures and database information to generate a GB/UK-specific PEC certificate when product is shipped to the UK.

Once the new format has been agreed between all parties, there will be a six-month transition period where shippers can continue using the EU PEC certificate. Once ready, ABC will conduct informational training for all shippers in generating the new UK-specific PEC certificate. For more information, contact [email protected].

Handlers Finalize China Facility Registrations

Around 65 almond processing facilities finalized their registrations with Chinese Customs (GACC) before the June 30 deadline. FDA provided great assistance in making sure that all handlers were able to upload and submit mandatory documents including last-minute, self-assessment checklists required by GACC to finalize the registrations. Handlers are advised to continue to monitor their accounts for final approvals from GACC. Registrations should be valid for the next 5 years. FDA also informed ABC that handlers will be required to keep their FDA biennial registrations and related Export Listing Module (ELM) information for China up to date. FDA will send out email reminders accordingly. For more information about your GACC account situation, please contact [email protected].

In this episode, we meet four impressive members of the California Future Farmers of America (FFA) who were awarded scholarships this year by The Almond Board of California (ABC). Since 2016, ABC’s fundraising efforts have been led by the Almond Leadership Program who has helped to raise more than $250,000 through donations, an annual golf tournament, and a live and silent auction during The Almond Conference every year. In 2023, sixteen FFA members were awarded these scholarships, including the four you will hear from in today’s episode: Olivia Bruns, Brennan Elszy, Christina Moitozo and Heather Hodges.

“These scholarships are really allowing people to get their foot in the door and have the opportunity to get that higher learning and really bring back more value than what's being put into them into the actual industry.” - Brennan Elszy

In Today’s episode:

• Meet the 2023 ABC Scholarship Recipients including Olivia Bruns from Woodland, Brennan Elszy from Hanford, Christina Moitozo from Gustine and Heather Hodges from Kerman.
• Discover their backgrounds and what the future holds for these up-and-coming industry leaders

Almond industry members interested in partnering with the Almond Board in donating to the California FAA Foundation can visit calaged.org/AlmondLeadershipProgram to learn more or to make a donation. To learn more about the Almond Leadership Program, please visit Almonds.com/AlmondLeadershipProgram or contact Rebecca Bailey at [email protected].

The Almond Journey Podcast is brought to you by the Almond Board of California. This show explores how growers, handlers, and other stakeholders are making things work in their operations to drive the almond industry forward. Host Tim Hammerich visits with leaders throughout the Central Valley of California and beyond who are finding innovative ways to improve their operations, connect with their communities, and advance the almond industry.

ABC recognizes the diverse makeup of the California almond industry and values contributions offered by its growers, handlers, and allied industry members. However, the opinions, services and products discussed in existing and future podcast episodes are by no means an endorsement or recommendation from ABC. The Almond Journey podcast is not an appropriate venue to express opinions on national, state, local or industry politics. As a Federal Marketing Order, the Almond Board of California is prohibited from lobbying or advocating on legislative issues, as well as setting field and market prices.

June's Marketing Bulletin from the Almond Board of California. 

Almonds Take Over Mexico City

During the first two months of 2023 and around National Almond Day efforts, California almonds took to the streets of Mexico by driving two mobile billboard trucks, covered with almond advertising creative, to top locations in Mexico City. The billboard trucks visited nine shopping malls, 20 supermarkets and 15 gyms. And at each stop, ABC hosted interactive events like snack workshops, giveaways, and yoga and meditation classes.

ABC partnered with popular influencers for the special events – which included podcast host Romina Sacre, Lifestyle and foodie influencer Soulfood Luz Colsa, and fitness trainer Ceci Aguilera. Colsa held a snack workshop showing how to add almonds to cultural Mexican foods, Aquilera hosted a fitness boot camp and Sacre hosted a meditation workshop. Sacre also invited a select few lucky consumers to her podcast recording studio where she recorded an episode about almonds. Through the different activities and mobile advertising, the campaign reached over 360 million impressions in the Mexico market.

Almond Health Ads Running on Facebook and Instagram

During the month of July, the Almond Board will run ads featuring the positive gut health attributes associated with eating almonds. Ads will run on Facebook and Instagram encouraging consumers to learn more about this area of nutrition research funded by the Almond Board. Ads seek to reach people interested in health. They are people that express interest in topics such as specific diet trends (e.g., paleo, keto), nutrients, or visit health websites like WebMD, Eating Well, and more. The ads will run in the U.S., India, Mexico, France, Italy, Germany, Japan and South Korea.

LA Times Features Almonds as Climate Change “First Responders”

The Los Angeles Times, in partnership with the Almond Board of California, published an article and video that explores the growing trend of sustainable farming practices in modern agriculture, and how that helps with climate change. The article highlights two key approaches: precision agriculture and regenerative agriculture, as well as Mallvinder Kahal, a second-generation Madera-based almond farmer and his family. California Secretary of Agriculture Karen Ross is also featured in the article.

With the increasing frequency of drought and other extreme weather, something that ABC's target audiences and farmers are both experiencing, the article emphasizes the importance of collaboration among farmers to drive the adoption of sustainable practices. To amplify this partnership, the LA Times promoted the article and video through display banners on their website and Apple News as well as paid social media running across their extensive digital network. In addition, the partnership took over the LA Times homepage on Tuesday, June, 27. The combined outreach helped showcase how farmers are actively working towards a more resilient and environmentally conscious agricultural industry for a brighter future.

Tanya Gemperle-Goncalves of Gemperle Farms has taken a particular interest in finding ways to improve their almond operation over time. She joined the Journey to share some of her experiments including cover crops, compost, whole orchard recycling and more.

“There are these practices that we want to implement, and what I'm trying to figure out is where can I reduce the risk? Where can I reduce the amount of effort on our part and make it as practical on our farm and as efficient as possible?” - Tanya Gemperle-Goncalves

In Today’s episode:

• Meet Tanya Gemperle-Goncalves of Gemperle Farms
• Explore how Gemperle-Goncalves defines sustainability and the role it plays on their operation
• Discover the progression of implementing new technologies and practices at Gemperle Farms

ABC Update:

Many almond growers have navigated the challenges of adopting new practices such as cover crops and have added flowering cover crops and monarch habitat around their ranches. A few years ago, the US Fish and Wildlife Service made the decision that it is warranted for the monarch butterfly to be listed as an endangered species. While this hasn’t officially happened yet, the timeline for doing so is by the end of 2023.

An endangered listing for any pollinator creates concern for almond growers who have planted pollinator habitat in and around their orchards. Almond Board of California Chief Scientific Officer Josette Lewis talks about those concerns for growers and protections being put into place with Industry Communications Senior Specialist Taylor Hillman.

“We've seen a really great response in terms of the number of farmers who've registered as bee friendly farms who are putting in flowering cover crops and have worked with organizations like Monarch Joint Venture to specifically put in Monarch habitat around their ranches. And so for those growers, we wanna make sure that they are protected if the monarch is listed as an endangered species.” - Josette Lewis

For more information regarding butterfly habitats visit the growers tools page at the ABC website or email the field outreach team at [email protected] with any questions.

The Almond Journey Podcast is brought to you by the Almond Board of California. This show explores how growers, handlers, and other stakeholders are making things work in their operations to drive the almond industry forward. Host Tim Hammerich visits with leaders throughout the Central Valley of California and beyond who are finding innovative ways to improve their operations, connect with their communities, and advance the almond industry.

ABC recognizes the diverse makeup of the California almond industry and values contributions offered by its growers, handlers, and allied industry members. However, the opinions, services and products discussed in existing and future podcast episodes are by no means an endorsement or recommendation from ABC. The Almond Journey podcast is not an appropriate venue to express opinions on national, state, local or industry politics. As a Federal Marketing Order, the Almond Board of California is prohibited from lobbying or advocating on legislative issues, as well as setting field and market prices.