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14 A L M O N D O R C H A R D 2 0 2 5 G O A L S PEST MANAGEMENT solutions for several almond pests, and CASP data shows high adoption rates of these practices. Progress against this 2025 Goal will focus on the pests that are the most important to address from an economic standpoint and where new tools can drive further improvements towards combating these pests. Navel Orangeworm (NOW) is one such pest, and, as we learned at the NOW Summit this past June, about 20% of almond growers have started to use mating disruption in their orchards, allowing them to reduce the number of sprays and even recoup some of the cost with USDA NRCS incentive funds. Reaching our goal of cutting harvest dust in half may be the biggest stretch and require rethinking how we harvest our crop. Research shows that three quarters of harvest dust is generated by pick up equipment. While equipment manufacturers have delivered a new generation of harvesters designed to reduce dust by 50%, over 45% of growers who participate in CASP already have adopted these low dust harvesters. Reducing the number of sweeper passes and reducing fan speeds are also components of reducing dust, but they make smaller contributions to reaching this goal. To cut dust by another 50% will require a continued shift to low-dust equipment and best practices while exploring new innovations in harvest practices such as off-ground harvest. This past harvest, we saw several growers experiment with off-ground harvesters provided by several companies, and ABC continues to fund research to address questions about the economics, impact of windfall and potential drying systems that can make off-ground harvest profitable. Ultimately, this process of discovering viable methods to reduce dust will take time and be a journey largely defined by growers and custom harvesters willing to be early adopters in this space. The final Almond Orchard 2025 Goal is to achieve zero waste by putting everything we grow to optimal use. With the dramatic increase in almond acreage over the past ten years comes a ever increasing amount of almond biomass — prunings, shells, hulls and trees when an orchard is replaced. The Almond Board estimates that biomass could reach as much as 2.6 million pounds by 2025. With air quality regulations reducing the option of burning and many of the state's former biomass power plants closed, adoption of new ways of using woody biomass, such as whole orchard recycling, will be a key measure of our industry's ability to achieve zero waste. Hullers have long been able to sell almond hulls to the California dairy industry; however, as the goal states, we aim for both zero waste and optimal use. Finding higher value uses of almond coproducts is also a key component of how we will measure progress. Expanding use of hulls in animal feed, from domestic poultry to export markets, is a key part of achieving both sustainability and profitability for our industry. The 2025 Goals help the Almond Board focus its resources to better support the California almond community and drive the industry forward in key areas of improvement. The value of setting our sights on the almond orchard of the future is already paying dividends in how policy makers and food companies value and appreciate the standards by which we abide to produce a quality nut, standards that are strongly reflected in the 2025 Goals. Through CASP, growers can join the journey towards advancements by improving the efficiency of their own operation, benchmarking their performance against their peers while also contributing to how the industry will measure progress across the 2025 Goals. Visit SustainbleAlmondGrowing.org today to start your first CASP assessment. About 20% of almond growers currently use mating disruption in their orchards, allowing them to reduce the number of sprays necessary to combat pests such as Navel Orangeworm.