Total almond acreage fell for the third consecutive year to just over 1.5 million acres, according to a report by Land IQ, a Sacramento-based agricultural and environmental research and consulting firm. The report reveals a drop of about 40,000 acres from the previous crop year.

The decline in total almond acreage may have a multi-faceted cause. Low almond returns over the past several years have turned what was once a profitable crop into an unprofitable one, forcing some growers to give up on the crop altogether. Increased input costs to farm those almonds, and the reduction in irrigation water in some growing areas likely led farmers to remove or abandon orchards. Almond acreage is divided into three categories: total, bearing, and non-bearing. While it’s the bearing acreage that is most critical because annual production forecasts can be extrapolated from that number, the non-bearing acreage (the volume of trees three years old or less) can also be telling as it can suggest upcoming crop production. “Three straight years of decreased acreage and sizeable orchard removals reflect a trend toward lower overall California almond acreage,” said California Almond Board President and CEO Clarice Turner in a prepared statement.