Abstract
This chapter describes almond germplasm and genetics, including ploidy, genome size, inheritance of qualitative characters and heritability of quantitative traits. The objectives, methodology, achievements and prospects of breeding programmes are discussed. Major breeding objectives include productivity, self-compatibility, late blooming time, kernel quality, tree architecture, and disease and pest resistance. There is a long-standing dilemma affecting tree crops, which partially affects almond breeding: despite extensive genetic improvement efforts, commercial production remains dominated by a few elite and usually old cultivars.