California Almond Growers Face Plummeting Prices For Crop

RIPON (CBS SF) -- California's beloved almond crop is under attack, but it's not bugs, disease, or drought that's causing the problem – it's the falling price.

While almonds still fetch $7 per pound at festivals, farmer's markets, and grocery stores, the prices paid to growers and processors are taking a beating.

"We're producing a lot of almonds. There's more almonds being produced now than there ever has been with the acreage that's gone in in this state," almond grower Jake Wenger said.

That abundance of inventory could be contributing to the lower prices.  High prices in the past prompted growers to plant trees like never before.

"We got to a price that was the highest I'd seen in my lifetime, and I've been in the industry my entire life," Dave Phippen said.

Almond trees went in as fast as fields could be plowed.  In the last ten years, the number of acres used in California to grow almonds has nearly doubled, according to the USDA.

"A lot of overseas buyers I think were put off by the high prices, so I think a lot of buyers said, 'all right, we'll fix that high. We'll just wait a little bit and we'll watch that price come down,'" Wenger said.

Phippen is hoping the price has finally bottomed out, after losing about 40 percent fast.

"You know, what I hope and what I think isn't necessarily what happens in the market, so it could go lower. Do I think it's going to stay there a long time? I think it'll be there for a year or so," Phippen said.