<p></p><p>he harvest of California's anticipated 2 billion pounds of almonds this season is in full swing, as Nonpareils have been coming off the trees for a couple of weeks.At Long and Long Orchards in Corning, Calif., trees are heavy with almonds and their quality is good, although some of the nuts have been a little small, owner Greg Long said."The nut size is down a little bit where the crop's really heavy," he said. "We'll just have to see. The quality looks really good."</p> <p>Long said he expects to be working for at least another three weeks, as pollinator varieties still must be harvested. Some growers will be harvesting later varieties of almonds into mid-October, said Rick Buchner, a University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor here."The guys think that the price and the crops look good," Buchner said. "The orchard industry is the bright spot in the economy right now."About 780,000 acres of orchards will produce nuts for this fall's harvest, the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics service has predicted. Nonpareils are the first almonds to be harvested and represent about 38 percent of California's production, which in turn accounts for about 80 percent of the world's almonds. </p><p>The agency expects production to be about 1 percent below last year's record harvest of 2.03 billion pounds, although actual production in 2011 exceeded NASS' initial expectations of 1.95 billion pounds earlier in the year.A warm and dry February created favorable bloom conditions for this year's almond crop, NASS reported. An early March frost and an early April hailstorm affected some orchards in the San Joaquin Valley, but weather in the Sacramento Valley has been nearly ideal. </p><p>Producers fear this year's equally abundant crop still won't be enough to meet demand, which has been trending up 10 percent to 15 percent a year and threatens to deplete carry-over supplies.A shrinking supply is sure to have an impact on prices, including those paid to growers, Dave Baker of Blue Diamond Growers has said. New plantings are going in, but those will take two or three years to start bearing and some old orchards may be taken out and replaced, he has said. </p><p>"I think the price is strengthening," said Long, who added there might be "a few less nuts than were probably estimated."In the northern Sacramento Valley, the harvest is proceeding despite sometimes thick layers of smoke from nearby wildfires that have settled on the valley floor. Growers have no choice but to work in the smoke, Buchner said, adding that they'd like to avoid a repeat of last year when rain in early October interrupted the harvest."I'm sure a lot of guys are just happy to get out there," he said. </p><p> </p><br><p></p>