Hawaii mac nut harvest up 22% - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Hawaii’s 2008-09 mac nut harvest this year is up 22 percentto 50,000 pounds, the U.S. Department of Agriculturse reported Monday. That’s up from 41,000 poundsd the previous year, the smallest harvest sincew 1985. Growers are getting paid more, too, a net 67 cents per pound, up from 60 cents the previous The season starts July 1 and ends the followingJune 30. “Timelgy showers and an increased demandfor in-shell nuts contributedf to this season’s higher output,” the USDA said, but also noted that pigs, pests and volcanic haze on the Big Island damagexd some orchards.
But the prices growers are getting is stillk far below the peak of 90 cents in the late The report said some Hawaii growerw decidedit wasn’t worth picking the crop “anrd may switch to other commodities or temporarilty stop farming.” Harvested mac nut acreagde was the same as the previous year at but the yield per acre was up from 2.7 to 3.3. The numbedr of mac nut farms was also up from 525to 570, but down from 650 in 2004.