The Italian Almond Industry: New Perspectives and Ancient Tradition

The almond industry in Italy represents a high degree of structural variability that is determined and sometimes jeopardized by the coexistence of old, traditional orchards and new plantations that differ from each other not only in terms of age but also orchard systems. Apulia and Sicily remain the most important production areas where 90% of the almond orchards are concentrated. In this southern part of Italy, almond and its derivatives still remain very important. In the last two decades, the Italian almond industry did not show a regular trend, neither with respect to production nor to acreage. An innovative almond industry revealed its consistency year after year since 2000. Self-fertile cultivars, clonal rootstocks and new planting designs optimized for mechanization were the most important technical aspects which revealed a new way to set up almond orchards. As a matter of fact, the Italian almond industry is still characterized by two strongly different structures: a traditional one based upon old cultivars and orchard systems often with unsatisfactory yields, and an innovative one which is very interesting and appears to be able to partially renew the sector. Technical aspects on this new way to obtain innovative almond orchards and their perspectives are reported here primarily in terms of technical choices.