<p>California almond growers are looking at the biggest crop ever according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast.Even bigger harvests are in the future. Money does grow on trees and it’s in the form of 2.25 billion pounds of nuts predicted to be harvested starting in August.That’s more than a 5 percent increase over last year. Manteca almond grower Dave Phippen says that will mean prices staying the same for consumers and growers.</p> <p>He adds that California has over a million acres of almonds and future harvests are likely to set new records. “We have 300,000 acres of almonds that aren’t yet producing, so at the acreage production of 2,000 pounds per acres, there’s an additional 600 million pounds of almonds that could be available in the next three years.”California provides more than 80 percent of the world’s almond production.</p>