The almond marketing order draws a precise line around inedible kernels: for each variety, kernels above a two-percent threshold create an inedible disposition obligation. It is a quality-control rule measured one variety at a time, not a general instruction to discard a season's troublesome crop.
The federal order gives the Almond Board of California authority, with the Secretary of Agriculture's approval, to set rules for administering the inedible program. That authority is the machinery behind a deadline change that lands in handlers' postharvest calendars.
More room on the disposition calendar
The cutoff moves from September 30 to November 30, with the change in place indefinitely, according to the Federal Register notice. The order does not describe a one-season waiver; it revises the standing deadline.
The change followed a recommendation from the Almond Board of California after inedible kernel percentages ran higher than average, reaching 3.07% this year. The notice links the extension to the need for more time to manage those kernels, rather than to a change in the quality standard itself.
A handler-side obligation
The obligation sits with handlers, who must meet the revised cutoff as they manage quality control for California almond crops. The order's quality-control provision gives the Board a way to establish the rules; it does not turn the disposition deadline into an orchard treatment instruction.
For growers and orchard managers, the practical conversation is with the handler receiving the crop: how lot records and disposition plans fit that handler's process. The extension is intended to ease pressure on handlers and support better management of inedible kernels, while the revised deadline remains a compliance requirement.