The Almond Board of California is hosting two demonstrations featuring low-dust harvesting equipment. Growers and others in the industry are invited to head out to see side-by-side demonstrations of low-dust harvesting equipment from four almond manufacturers. Almond Board Manager of Industry Relations, Jenny Nicolau gives us more information.
Listen to the report:
For more information and to RSVP, contact Rebecca Bailey.
About the Almond Board of California:
In 1950, almond growers asked the United States Department of Agriculture to approve a Federal Marketing Order, so they could all work together to improve the quality and marketing of their crop. At that time, the Almond Board of California (then called the Almond Control Board) dealt primarily with compliance issues. Over the years, our scope has broadened. While compliance is still a crucial part of our activities, the Almond Board now engages in production, nutrition and market research, advertising and promotion in domestic and international markets, quality control and statistical analysis and dissemination.
Today we call ourselves an agricultural promotion group to help people better understand various types of marketing orders. Agricultural promotion groups work in different ways, but essentially they are founded and funded by industry members. In our case almond handers contribute an annual assessment on the marketable kernel weight of almonds to fund Almond Board marketing and research programs.
The Almond Board of Directors is composed of ten members. The more than 6,500 almond growers and 104 almond handlers elect five almond growers and five almond handlers in an annual election. Once elected, the Board of Directors elects its chair and vice-chair. The Board of Directors members give the chair the authority to appoint individuals to standing committees. Board and committee members serve without compensation. The Board is responsible for establishing policy, recommending budgets and programs to the Secretary of Agriculture for approval, and reviewing program results and effectiveness.
All programs approved by the Board of Directors are implemented and managed by Almond Board staff with messaging and program oversight from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This ensures that all of our messages comply with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations.
As a Federal Marketing Order, it is important to note that the Almond Board is not involved with and is expressly prohibited from setting field or market prices.