The Nut King and the Pomegranate Queen in the Land of W♥nderful

February 2, 2018 8:27 AM

A Kingdom from Dust. Stewart Resnick is the biggest farmer in the United States, a fact he has tried to keep hidden while he has shaped what we eat, transformed California’s landscape, and ruled entire towns. But the one thing he can’t control is what he’s most dependent on — water.

Background
* Mother Jones (2016): "Meet the California Couple Who Uses More Water Than Every Home in Los Angeles Combined. How megafarmers Lynda and Stewart Resnick built their billion-dollar empire."
* Forbes (2015): "America's Nuttiest Billionaire Couple: Amid Drought, Stewart And Lynda Resnick Are Richer Than Ever "
* National Geographic Documentary: "Water & Power: A California Heist"

posted by zarq (20 comments total)

Flames. Flames, on the side of my face.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:46 AM on February 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

I'm surprised they surpass the output used to keep lawns and golf courses green.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:54 AM on February 2, 2018

The "Wonderful Company". Oh, well done, 1 percenters.
posted by allthinky at 9:20 AM on February 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

cjorgensen:"I'm surprised they surpass the output used to keep lawns and golf courses green."

Walnuts and Almonds are very water intensive crops. Pistachios and Pomegranates somewhat less so. Almonds have to be watered year-round. Pistachio trees handle droughts well. Pomegranates have a higher tolerance to salt than many other fruits.

Farmers have a lot of criteria they need to balance in order to make crops thrive.
posted by zarq at 9:29 AM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

This is fascinating and enraging stuff, thank you. The writing is a little purple, but I'm engrossed by how water and ag have shaped California.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 9:53 AM on February 2, 2018

Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.
posted by chavenet at 10:30 AM on February 2, 2018 [7 favorites]

When the farm is an abstract money making machine for the farm-owner (these people can't be called farmers if they don't actually work the land), you're going to get this sort of stuff. Around here you've got Harvard University buying vineyards and allowed to drill deeper than residential wells. The razing of oak trees by a Resnick owned company mentioned in the article was legal but heartless. El Paso de Robles means "The Pass of the Oaks". Faceless entities pushing around nature in a way that undermines our future.
posted by Mister Cheese at 10:45 AM on February 2, 2018 [6 favorites]

I'm engrossed by how water and ag have shaped California.

When I worked in Ag Ed, I went to a conference in CA, and went on a bunch of agribusiness tours. Almost every conversation worked its way around to water and how there wasn't enough if it. And this was in '08, before the "official" drought.

Most of the nuts eaten in the U.S. are grown in CA, and it's a big and sometimes cutthroat business.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:56 AM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

(And a baby calf sucked my whole hand into her mouth at the state fairgrounds, and there was much death from cowsquee. But that's another story.)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:59 AM on February 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

This is an incredible read. Thank you.
posted by The Toad at 1:31 PM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

Are they going to start making replicants?
posted by lagomorphius at 1:35 PM on February 2, 2018

For nothin' but CA water policy, check out On the Public Record, which is the extremely opinionated anonymous musings of someone who works somewhere in CA water policy or management. Good sidebar links, too.
posted by clew at 2:07 PM on February 2, 2018

I'm surprised they surpass the output used to keep lawns and golf courses green.

I used to think that as well. Eventually I learned that the actual percentage of water use is: agricultural 62 percent, urban water users 16 percent, and environmental purposes 22 percent, or rather, agriculture uses 80% of the water going to humans. I came to the conclusion that the whole "watering lawns" line was propaganda put out by the bug farmers.

It's a great line. It diverts conversations away from agribusiness, and puts the blame on mythical urban profligate water use.

I myself repeat that lie for years while blaming SoCal for water shortages. All the while the walrus farmers chafed at the regulations that prevented them from turning the Sacramento River into a muddy rut.

No wonder those assholes all voted for Trump.
posted by happyroach at 3:03 PM on February 2, 2018 [7 favorites]

Walrus farmers? Strange times, indeed.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 3:27 PM on February 2, 2018 [10 favorites]

*sigh* autocorrect is my nematode.
posted by happyroach at 3:32 PM on February 2, 2018 [27 favorites]

Weirdly enough, this couple also own a small technology company in regional Australia. When the area (Oceania) boss arrived from the States, he boasted about the owner's private wealth and mumbled through my questions on their water usage. Knowing that these guys are reducing California's viability on a daily basis for private profit was yet another reason I disliked working for them.
posted by Thella at 4:39 PM on February 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

So I guess these are the family farmers that will be devastated if we don't get rid of the inheritance tax?
posted by TedW at 5:10 PM on February 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

Some days, I just want to drop out of the old rat race, and run a little walrus ranch somewhere.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:59 AM on February 3, 2018 [5 favorites]

And if only Americans could get Iranian pistachios, they'd dump the dusty, tiny, tasteless California ones in a second. But I'm sure Resnick and his chums are doing everything possible to keep the embargo in place.
posted by scruss at 7:58 AM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

Metafilter: All the while the walrus farmers chafed
posted by mule98J at 9:35 AM on February 4, 2018 [2 favorites]