FROM THE EXECUTIVE
From the Executive...
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While there are some who consider the problem to be specific to one growing region and climate, the team ' s travels have confirmed that there are challenges with the variety emerging further afield.
Alan Hoppe, ABA Chairperson and Tim Jackson, ABA CEO
Industry responds to Monterey challenges
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THE Monterey leafing failure complex is being tackled on a number of fronts by industry. The ABA’ s industry development officer Josh Fielke and NSW DPI’ s award winning researcher Len Tesorerio continue to plot its progress and investigate potential causes. To fast-track the process the recruitment of a PhD student to investigate the issue has started following a Hort Innovation co-funded project being approved by industry. Josh and Len are also looking at potential chemicals that could be added to the grower toolkit that might help enhance the preventative measures growers can implement. Josh and the rest of the ABA industry development team have been on the road through February and March with a focus on the ongoing concerns around the performance of the Monterey variety. While there are some who consider the problem to be specific to one growing region and climate, the team’ s travels have confirmed that there are challenges with the variety emerging further afield. The variety has been one of the success stories of the Australian industry and now represents well over 10 % of plantings. The leafing failure will impact Monterey yields this year and potentially have crossover impacts on the Nonpareil crop.
Early receivals from processors suggest the 2025 crop size could come in lower than the pre-season harvest of 155,531 tonnes as crackouts struggle to meet long term averages. Predictions on the crop size have ranged from 135,000 to 155,000 tonnes, so there appears to be varying out-turns from orchards across the various districts. Many within the Riverina have already completed harvest, which is a much quicker finish than most years, and could suggest lower yields than anticipated.
Study Tour
A group of almost 20 industry stakeholders will attend an ABA endorsed study tour of Spain and Portugal in May. The project has received co-funding through Hort Innovation and aims to investigate the merits of higher density plantings and drought tolerance strategies in orchards. It is the first of two study tours locked in for the industry. A second tour in May next year will visit California. ABA Industry Development Manager Deidre Jaensch and Sustainability Officer Ella Henson will be leading the Spanish tour.
Marketing campaign
The almond industry’ s profile has In A Nutshell- Autumn 2025 Vol 26 Issue 1 certainly received a boost recently, thanks to the alliance with our new global ambassador Poh Ling Yeow. The MasterChef celebrity has been a popular addition to our marketing campaigns and we look forward to promotional work in India and Malaysia where we are attempting to build an awareness of almonds in order to drive demand. Poh’ s warm personality and can-do attitude has helped lift the profile of almonds with key market segments. The inclusion of Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers is another exciting addition. He certainly made a big splash when he visited Griffith earlier this month and spoke to local swimmers about the benefits of eating almonds amidst a nutritious diet that improved performance. We look forward to utilising Kyle to drive demand in the Australian market where almond consumption has flattened in more recent times.
Inbound mission
A group of Indian buyers will tour all the processing facilities in the industry this month. The tour, which has been underpinned by the ABA’ s Hort Innovation sponsored marketing project, will see almost 30 representatives fly into Sunraysia and spend four days inspecting facilities