Just a simple Google search says that 99% of all the commercial
English walnuts grown in the U.S. are grown in California. California
is in the second or third year of a terrible drought. I suspect that
a further search would turn up statistics about how few will be
produced this year.

On Sat, 2 Aug 2014 08:30:51 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

>
>Bags of walnuts in the shell, I mean.
>
>After all, cherries are far more delicate, you'd think - and yet,
>when they're in season, it's easy enough to buy THOSE in good
>condition for under $4 a pound, if you shop around!
>
>OK, so you're buying the pits and stems as well, but those make up far
>less than 25% of the total weight, I'm guessing. Whereas with walnuts,
>the shell is 50% of the weight - and IIRC, you're lucky if you pay as
>little as $4 a pound - so that's $8 a pound WITHOUT the shell!
>
>BTW, here's a thread I started in 2012 about WHERE to buy them:
>
>https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.food.cooking/walnuts$20lenona/rec.food.cooking/fdypRjPYGT8/sA1HQk8vkS0J
>
>Even so, I'm curious as to the WHY of the matter, this time.
>
>Lenona.