The National Agricultural Statistics Service issued its latest estimates for California processing tomatoes and Walnuts, and both show a slight increase over 2019. NASS said processors are reporting contracts for totaling 12 million tons of tomatoes this year. That fruit will come from an estimated 235,000 acres, which is just 1,000 acres above the 2019 contracted acreage. Last year, actually harvested area totaled 227,000 acres, 7,000 acres less than the planted contracts.
See the full 2020 California Processing Tomato Report.
The NASS also showed a slight increase for California’s Walnuts this season. The walnut acreage is surveyed every other year. The report estimates California has 415,000 acres of walnuts with 50,000 non-bearing. That’s a 3.8 percent increase since the last estimate in 2017. The 365,000 acres of bearing trees in the forecast is also an increase over bearing acreage from 2018 by roughly 15,000 acres. NASS said their surveys showed that Chandler continues as the leading variety with 133,609 bearing acres, and Tulare is now second on the list with 29,331 bearing acres, dropping Hartley to third. San Joaquin County shows the largest acreage with 14 percent of the total, followed by Butte with 13 percent and Tulare with 10 percent each.
See the full 2019 California Walnut Acreage Report.
