Richard Wagner, whose father started the family dairy in Escalon, California, already has almond trees, but is putting in about 300 acres more this year. He’s taking land away from growing alfalfa and corn for feeding cows.

“Back in the 1950s, there were no almond trees in our area,” he said. “Now there are almond trees everywhere. The economics for the trees has been very good. Dairymen have a decision.”


Chances are, pressure for weaker California dairies to sell out to nut producers will continue over the next five years, and those who don’t sell will be installing groves, said Vernon Crowder, a Fresno, California-based senior vice president at Rabobank International.

Demand for nuts has gone insane. Asian countries import almonds in the shell. In the U.S., half the almonds sold are shaved into everything from ice cream to salads and tucked into energy bars. The other half of the market consists of whole-nut snacks. And snacking on nuts is increasing, according to Chicago-based research firm Technomic.

Few Nuts

Almond milk is boosting the nut’s popularity, too. Last year, Americans bought $890 million of the stuff, three times the amount of soy milk’s $286 million, according to IRI. Retailers have caught on. Starbucks Corp. is adding almond milk to its lineup of non-milk alternatives, which already includes coconut and soy milk. And as of last month, Dunkin’ Donuts offers it in all its stores.

Milk alternatives have faced scrutiny for not containing very many nuts or natural ingredients. The Silk brand of almond milk, for example, also contains sugar, salt, gellan gum and sunflower lecithin.

A lawsuit filed last year against Blue Diamond Growers, which supplies Dunkin’ Donuts, said its almond milk contained just 2 percent almonds. Blue Diamond’s U.K. website confirms the product’s almond content. Water and sugar are listed as ingredients before almonds. Alicia Rockwell, a company spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Mammals Only

The National Milk Producers Federation has been trying to get federal regulators to enforce laws on the books that say the word “milk” is reserved for lactation from a mammal. But they’re losing that battle, too, as almond milk gets turned into other imitation dairy products, like cheese and yogurt.