Operating costs for pistachio growers have been steadily increasing over the past few years, while average prices have been trending in the opposite direction. Assistant Professor in Cooperative Extension in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis, Brittney Goodrich has been working on preliminary estimates to update the cost and return study from 2020. She said that costs have increased by about five percent on average since 2020.
“What I have is about $3,300 per acre, in operating costs. That doesn’t include any overhead or investment,” Goodrich noted. The 2020 study shows the cost to produce pistachios as $3,210 per acre. While costs increased, prices declined further. “I have the average price of pistachio, which includes an average on in-shell and the shelled product as well, which is about $1.86. So our revenues are down about 12 percent from 2020,” Goodrich explained. The weighted average payment to growers was reported as $2.115 per pound in 2020.
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Brian German
Ag News Director / AgNet West