Seen as a healthy snack or a dairy alternative, Australians are turning to almonds like never before, and for the first time the home-grown crop looks set to crack the billion-dollar barrier. The growth of the industry is not just changing diets, it is also re-shaping Australian farms. But on such a dry continent there are questions about how such a thirsty crop came to be.
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00:00 On any given morning around the country, cafes like this are dishing up a caffeine fix.
00:15 But tastes are changing.
00:17 We've definitely seen an increase of alternative milks in the last couple of years.
00:22 Whether it's flat whites, protein shakes or simply snacking, demand for plant based is
00:27 driving an almond boom across Australia.
00:31 And it's not just for alternative milk.
00:34 Australia is now one of the highest consumers of almonds per head in the world.
00:38 About 80% of the world's almonds are grown in California, but Australia is fast sliding
00:44 into second place, aided by soaring exports to China and India.
00:49 Industry group the Almond Board says this year Australia will sell more than a billion dollars
00:54 worth of almonds for the first time.
00:56 There's no real awareness about the almonds.
00:58 We have come from nowhere in the last 20 years to be fair.
01:02 Back in the year 2000, there was roughly three and a half thousand hectares of almonds planted
01:07 across Australia.
01:08 Today, that figure is greater than 62 and a half thousand hectares, with orchards like
01:15 this one spreading out across southern New South Wales, northern Victoria and parts of
01:21 SA.
01:22 What's the best thing you can do with an almond?
01:26 Plant it.
01:29 Make almond milk.
01:31 Dennis Dinicola was one of the first to plant almonds in the New South Wales Riverina in
01:35 the early 2000s.
01:38 What did your neighbours think?
01:39 I was nuts.
01:41 Yeah, they couldn't quite understand.
01:46 It's a move that's paid off.
01:47 The former rice grower now employing his son and daughter to not only grow nuts, but make
01:53 almond milk too.
01:54 I started to grow almonds as soon as they told me there was going to be water deregulation.
01:59 I decided that we needed to grow something where we get a better return per megalitre
02:05 of water and that's when I sort of started looking at different crops.
02:09 At the turn of the millennium, water ownership was separated from land, allowing water to
02:14 be traded between farms.
02:16 And it's changing the way land and water is used.
02:20 Water is moving to higher value returns.
02:22 We've seen a significant expansion in the almond industry and we've seen a significant
02:28 expansion in the cotton industry, particularly in southern New South Wales.
02:32 Once, farmers would have grown crops based on returns per hectare.
02:36 But the price and availability of water today means they're chasing returns per megalitre.
02:42 I think it is evidence of the market working and some people may criticise that and say
02:48 it has an adverse impact on communities, but generally I think the overall impact is positive.
02:56 Returns paid to farmers for almonds fluctuate but are typically high.
02:59 And so too is the crop's thirst.
03:02 Unlike annual crops such as rice and cotton, almonds are what's known as permanent plantings
03:08 and require water year round.
03:10 What I have seen about Californian milk, some estimates take it as much as 12 litres of
03:18 water for one kernel of almond.
03:23 A 2021 study published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found Australian
03:28 almonds used less water than their international competitors.
03:32 They need a lot of water but their water use is comparable to a lot of other crops.
03:37 Tim Jackson says Australian almonds use the same amount of water per hectare as other
03:42 permanent crops such as citrus, table grapes and stone fruit.
03:47 But delivering affordable water is a concern for all forms of irrigation.
03:51 No one's telling anyone what to grow.
03:54 People have gravitated to almonds because of the business case.
03:57 As the climate changes and Australia looks to make more water available for the environment
04:01 across the Murray-Darling, it will mean increasing pressure to ensure every drop counts.
04:07 you
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