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Close-up of pistachios growing on a tree.

January/February 2025
State of the pistachio industry: American Pistachio Growers works to drive demand
By Zachary Fraser, American Pistachio Growers

The state of the pistachio industry is — as of today — positive. From taste to nutrition, pistachios are the “it” tree nut. Even our signature color has been all over high fashion. So it is a pleasure to share some of that positivity with industry friends.

Headshot of Zachary Fraser of the American Pistachio Growers.Before diving into detail, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Zachary Fraser, and I am the new president and CEO of American Pistachio Growers (APG). Having started my role in June 2024 and joining the association after 20 years in professional sports management, I will not appear in a LinkedIn search related to tree nuts or pistachios. My areas of expertise include marketing strategy, business operations and membership development. I am lucky to be teamed up with a talented roster of pistachio lovers, marketing mavens and people who are laser-focused on the success of our growers as we look to build APG into the premier member services organization in American agriculture.

If you aren’t familiar with APG, we are the association charged with driving global demand for all American-grown pistachios. With nearly 75% of the world’s supply grown in the U.S., we have a heavy lift every year to make sure that the perfect nut our farmers and processors bring to market has demand to drive sales.

Our product is remarkable. Pistachios are a complete protein, which means our little beauties have all nine essential amino acids that deliver a host of health benefits. Pistachios help gut health, eye health and blood sugar management, are loaded with antioxidants (among my personal favorites) and they taste so good. Our small but mighty team lives and works every day to drive demand, supporting everyone in our community charged with selling around the world and seeing to it that our vision of having pistachios as a part of the world’s daily diet is accomplished.

Pistachio industry trends

A few items in 2024 that have us excited about the pistachio industry:

  • Growing — Following a record crop year in 2023 (1.5 billion pounds), 2024 came in right as initially forecast, finishing with 1.1 billion pounds. I recognize that going backward doesn’t seem like growth; the reduction in crop size was anticipated because pistachios are an alternate-bearing tree nut. That means — weather,water and universe permitting — our industry is excited for a 2025 crop that may climb higher than our 2023 harvest. Following a boom in new acreage planted from 2018-2022 (an average of more than 30,000 acres per year), and more trees coming into maturity and production, our work to drive demand is essential to ensuring a home for all these nuts.
  • Talent — As we compete in a global market, our industry is supported by the most talented professionals in American agriculture. Every year, our growers continue to prove their focus on good stewardship of the land, resources and advanced farming techniques. This ensures that we are delivering the highest quality pistachio in the entire world. The best farmers grow the best pistachios.
  • Sustainability — Sustainable farming practices — both environmental and operational — are essential to our industry both thriving today and being prepared for the next generation of farm operations. I noted stewardship when discussing our talent. APG has launched and is developing the central resource for finding and communicating sustainable farming practices for pistachio farmers — a core feature of stewardship. From soil health to groundwater recharge and orchard sanitation to tools that help manage the business of the farm, the future will be driven by adopting smart approaches to sustainable management. The pioneers of our industry set the bar high, and the next generation of pistachio farmers will continue to deliver a product that is both good for you and has been intentionally farmed with an eye toward ensuring the industry is sustainable.

A few things to keep an eye on:

  • International politics — Of the billions of pounds now being harvested, much is exported. We pay close attention to tariff news, along with teammates in other tree nuts/specialty crops. Changing landscapes in international affairs/political leadership can have a lasting impact on future markets. We make sure we are not just at the table but that we are having meaningful conversations with government officials who dictate these decisions.
  • Water — Trusting we can successfully navigate global politics, we need to ensure that our farmers have enough water to nourish the trees. More than 95% of the pistachio supply grown in the U.S. is grown in California, primarily central California. In the Central Valley (and everywhere else American pistachios are grown), water management is always a No. 1 priority. As water management policy continues to be more and more prominent, we are paying attention to (and engaged with) how that will shape the next generation of our farms.
  • Regulatory environment — It isn’t for the faint of heart. Understanding, and being fully compliant with, regulations is one of the heaviest (and most expensive) lifts our growers and their farm managers deal with every single year. Those regulations aren’t just on the farm — they affect every sector of the industry (processing, transportation, operations, logistics and more). We focus on advocating for the best interests of our members and their employees, and we collaborate with other associations that have crossover with pistachios.

Given the communal nature of American agriculture, we work with our friends in the almond, walnut and other tree nut industries to make sure we all have open markets, access to water and support in a challenging regulatory environment. Teamwork will make the dream work as it relates to feeding the world.

Now that you are up to speed on the world of our perfect tree nut, you have one action item: Go to a local retailer/grocery store, find a bag of pistachios, and buy them! I love cracking mine in-shell (even though I’m new to the industry, apparently I’m “old school”), while a lot of people are migrating to kernels (no shell). Eat them straight or mix them into your baking, your salads, your treats — just make sure you eat that serving a day! You are part of the reason why our industry has an optimistic future, and my team and I are excited to keep inviting you to be a fan of American-grown pistachios.

An organizational leadership veteran of more than 20 years, Zachary Fraser, president and CEO of American Pistachio Growers (APG), spent much of his career in sports management before joining APG. He was general manager for Learfied’s multimedia rights business, embedded with the Fresno State Athletics department, and was president and managing partner of Pacific Baseball Ventures, a holding company that operates stadiums and summer collegiate baseball franchises in Washington.



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