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The severe drought gripping the Western United States is taking a heavy toll on California's almond industry, which produces around 80% of the world's almonds.
According to the Associated Press, growers are having to abandon their orchards as water becomes increasingly scarce and expensive.
"We may have to sacrifice one of them at the end of the year if we feel that we don't have enough water next year," San Joaquin Valley farmer Joe Del Bosque told the AP. "That means that our huge investment that we put in these trees is gone."
Del Bosque doesn't have enough water to irrigate his almond orchards so he's being forced to practice "deficit irrigation:" providing trees with less water than they need.
Almond orchards need water year-round, which has been tough with the worsening drought and the intense heat waves in the area.
California's almond production grew from 370 million pounds in 1995 to 3.1 billion pounds in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In May, they projected California's almond crop would reach a record 3.2 billion pounds in 2021, but in July, it was drastically scaled back to 2.8 billion pounds.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 88% of the state was in "extreme drought" as of last week, with the Central Valley experiencing the worst conditions.