IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1668 

Recognizing the 100th anniversary of the formation of the California Almond 

Growers Exchange, a cooperative to market almonds produced by members of the cooperative. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2010 

Mr. CARDOZA submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the 100th anniversary of the formation of the 

California Almond Growers Exchange, a cooperative to 

market almonds produced by members of the cooperative. 

Whereas, on May 6, 1910, 230 California almond growers 

formed the California Almond Growers Exchange, a cooperative to market their almond production; 

Whereas 60 percent of California’s almond growers eventually 

joined the cooperative and developed America’s first 

brand for almonds, Blue Diamond, named after the 

world’s highest quality gem; 

Whereas by 1917, representatives of Blue Diamond made 

their first trip to Italy and Spain to share cultural and 

marketing information, and this was the first promotion 

and marketing of California almonds in foreign markets; 


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•HRES 1668 IH 

Whereas Blue Diamond established a partnership with the 

Federal Government to obtain better rail rates and transmitted the first speech in America aboard a train headed 

cross country about the importance of equitable almond 

prices; 

Whereas in 1937, Blue Diamond developed the first cellophane bag to package almonds and funded the first nutrition research to establish almonds as an essential food 

in the Federal school lunch program; 

Whereas in 1949, Blue Diamond introduced the first snack 

almond in America, Smokehouse Cocktail Almonds, which 

became the first treenut to be served to passengers on 

airlines; 

Whereas in 1950, Blue Diamond established the Almond 

Board of California, a Federal marketing order to collect 

market information, fund research and promote California almonds; 

Whereas Blue Diamond opened the Japanese market in the 

1950s and established its first foreign office in Japan 

soon afterwards; 

Whereas Blue Diamond exported California almonds to Russia, when it was still the Soviet Union, and at one time, 

Russia was the largest export market for United States 

almonds; 

Whereas, in the 1970s, Blue Diamond opened the Indian 

market for California almonds, and India now imports 

over $100 million of California almonds, which make 

California almonds the largest United States export to 

India; 

Whereas Blue Diamond is now expanding the market in 

China for California almonds; 


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•HRES 1668 IH 

Whereas, from a small industry of three million pounds of almonds in 1910, California is now producing over 1.65 billion pounds of almonds annually, which is 80 percent of 

the global supply; 

Whereas Blue Diamond’s business has grown to nearly $1 

billion, and more than half of California’s almond growers are members of the cooperative; and 

Whereas almonds are California’s largest food export, and almonds also rank as the largest tree crop in the world: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives recog2 nizes the California Almond Growers Exchange for its 100 

3 years of leadership in developing and promoting the Cali4 fornia almond industry both domestically and worldwide. 

Æ 


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