When California almond farmer Donny Hicks said he was using 10 acre inches of water to irrigate his orchard, folks thought he either misspoke or was blowing smoke. “Inches?” he was asked. He wasn’t blowing smoke, according to Joseph Gallegos of Umida Agriculture, a company specializing in a new method of delivering irrigation water to almonds. This is significant because it is commonly believed almonds require four acre feet of water annually to produce a good crop. In other areas of his orchards Hicks will use upwards of 48 acre inches of water to achieve maximum yields that can exceed 4,000 pounds per acre.