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An almond industry group is crediting growers for their water efficiency while cultivating what is expected to be a big crop this year. California’s 2016 almond production is expected to be 2.05 billion meat pounds, up from the 2 billion pounds projected in May and up nearly 8 percent from last year’s yields, reports the National Agricultural Statistics Service. The agency cites several factors for the improved crop, including more precipitation and chill hours than last year and a quick and uniform almond blossom.

There’s a stall in a movement to change California water policy. The California Water Alliance is pulling back its signature gathering campaign in order to change the wording on its proposed ballot measure. Sabrina Hill has more. Karen Musson, co-owner of Gar Tootelian, and a supporter of the California Water Alliance’s measure says it’s an opportunity to build on what has been learned so far. She says she’s thankful to all the people who have helped with the signature gathering.

A federal agency projects a record almond crop in California this year, based on sampling results announced Wednesday.

The orchards will yield an estimated 2.05 billion pounds, up from an even 2 billion in a May projection, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported. It would eclipse the record of 2.03 billion pounds in 2011 if the forecast pans out during a harvest starting next month in Stanislaus and other counties.

The agency based the May estimate on a telephone survey of growers about how the nuts were developing. Wednesday’s number came from detailed measurements in a sampling of orchards.

From state highways, foothill campgrounds and aerial surveys, it’s easy to see the catastrophic tree die-off in California forests. What isn’t as easily grasped is the scale of rapidly expanding tree mortality in the state’s 40 million acres of forestland—and what to do about it.

The U.S. Forest Service said in June that its survey showed more than 66 million trees, mostly pine species, have died in the southern Sierra Nevada alone, and more are dying. Forestry experts say the scale of the die-off is beyond anything ever observed.

 

The weather is wetter than last year amid California’s ongoing drought, but the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s request to conserve water citywide hasn’t dried up yet.

The SFPUC voted unanimously June 28 to maintain water conservation while easing up on last year’s mandatory water usage restrictions, which required local commercial water customers to reduce their outdoor potable-water irrigation by up to 25 or 30 percent. Nonresidential customers faced excess-usage fees that will now be lowered, and are required to reduce usage by only 10 percent.