Pistachio removals: low volumes, striking age profile

Part 8 of 10 in a series on the almond and pistachio sectors in California. Download a complete report here and explore the underlying data in a standalone application here.

Pistachio removals in California tell a very different story to almonds. The scale is significantly smaller, but with one stand-out finding.

The scale is modest

Between 2014 and 2024, roughly 39k acres (~16k ha) of pistachios were removed in total, compared to roughly 447k acres (~180k ha) of almonds over the same period. The pistachio removal rate has been relatively stable since 2018, running at 1,200-3,000 acres (~500-1,250 ha) per year. By contrast, almond removals have tripled.

Pistachios remain firmly net-positive. Even in 2024, when total pistachio planting dropped to around 6,100 acres (~2,500 ha) , this still comfortably exceeded the roughly 3,000 acres (~1,250ha) removed. In 2022, net additions were close to 39k acres (~16k ha) — one of the strongest net-positive years on record.

The pistachio acreage base is weighted considerably younger than almonds given that the bulk of California's pistachio expansion occurred more recently, and grower economics have anecdotally been more favourable, with stronger prices relative to production costs. Both factors likely contribute to the lower removal rate.

California pistachios planted and removed 2020-2024. Source: Demeter

The age profile is telling

There is an interesting observation in which pistachio orchards are being removed. For removals from 2020 onwards, ~61% of acreage removed was under seven years old - immature trees that had not yet reached commercial production. Nearly half was under five years old.

The bearing-age removals that do occur are concentrated at the extremes of orchard life. Trees aged 26 and older account for 23% of removals, representing orchards that have had a full commercial run. The productive middle - orchards aged 7 to 25, in their prime bearing years - account for just 17% of all pistachio removals, or roughly 1,400 acres (~565 ha) across four years of data.

The implication is straightforward. Once a pistachio orchard reaches bearing age, it almost certainly stays in the ground throughout its productive life. The economics of bearing pistachios appear to be strong enough that growers are not pulling productive trees. The orchards that are removed are overwhelmingly either pre-bearing orchards that failed to reach production, or very old trees at the end of their commercial life.

Pre-bearing removals are dispersed

The ~3,900 acres (~1,600 ha) of pistachios under five years old removed since 2020 are spread across 84 orchards, at least 10 different irrigation districts, and all four years in that period of the data. This is not a single failed project - it is a pattern of individual planting decisions that did not work out through to production, whether due to failed establishment, high attrition of young trees, inability to sustain the losses through the pre-bearing period, or other factors. Young pistachio removals are split roughly 70/30 between inside and outside irrigation districts, close to the overall industry split. The largest in-district locations include Lower Tule River Irrigation District, Semitropic, Westlands and Corcoran. Outside irrigation districts, the largest concentrations of young orchard removals are in the Delta-Mendota area. These are not universally the same areas where new pistachio planting is declining. Lower Tule, for instance, is simultaneously one of the largest destinations for new pistachio planting (as noted in our planting series) and a location where young orchards are being pulled.

Combination with the planting narrative

The pistachio removals data reinforces the picture from our planting series: the California pistachio industry is in a fundamentally different position to almonds. The acreage base is growing, removals are low, and the industry is not experiencing the kind of broad-based contraction visible in almonds.

The near-absence of productive-age removals is the most distinctive finding. It suggests that the economics of bearing pistachio orchards are sufficiently strong that they are not being pulled even in an environment of rising water costs and regulatory uncertainty. The removals that do occur are either end-of-life or pre-bearing failures - the normal tail risk of any planting programme, not a signal of structural distress.

Next in this series: The removal rate puzzle: why are in-district almond orchards being removed faster?

You can download a complete report here.