Dive Brief:
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The Almond Board of California (ABC) is currently looking for ways to optimize almond coproducts such as almond hulls, shells and other woody materials in order to reduce food waste, according to a news release.
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The ABC aims to make almond manufacturing a zero-waste industry by incorporating almond byproducts into biodegradable plastics, foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, reducing the industry's carbon footprint.
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"We have shifted our mindset to view agriculture co-products as an opportunity, not a problem. In fact, as research continues to find new and innovative technologies to commercialize coproducts into bioproducts, almond coproducts might someday be as profitable as the almonds themselves. It's a win-win for the almond industry," Vice President of UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Glenda Humiston said at an industry conference.
Dive Insight:
In the late 1970s, garbage bins in New Orleans were printed with the message “There's no such place as away.” This is a message product developers and producers need to keep in mind: In a world with finite resources, it benefits everyone, particularly those in industries that traditionally have discarded food scraps, to imagine and employ uses for those rejected byproducts.
In 2015, the California almond industry grew 1.9 billion pounds of almond kernels as well as 3.8 billion pounds of hulls and 1.3 billion pounds of shells, the ABC reported. Amazingly, next to none of the so-called “co-products” remained unused — almond hulls are used as livestock feed, while the husks can be turned into livestock bedding.
The ABC is also investigating the viability of whole orchard recycling, a process by which entire almond orchards are cut down and ground up when they can produce no more, and then are churned back into the soil. This reintroduces nutrients to the soil and can improve air quality. Almond husks can also be heated in order to produce biochar, a charcoal-like compound that can be spread over farmland to improve soil's water retention.