California farmers ban together to fight
nut rustlers
yeah.
This harvest season in the Central Valley, thieves cut through a fence and hauled off $400,000 in walnuts. Another $100,000 in almonds was stolen by a driver with a fake license. And $100,000 in pistachios was taken by a big rig driver who left a farm without filling out any paperwork.
nut rustlers.
“The Wild West is alive and well in certain aspects,” said Danielle Oliver of the California Farm Bureau….
The Farm Bureau: an NGO.
Domestic demand for specialty foods and an expanding Asian market for them have prompted a nut orchard boom in the state’s agricultural heartland.
an expanding Asian market aaaaaand there ya have it.
As the nation’s top nut producer, the state grows more almonds and pistachios than any other country. Only China produces more walnuts, which have nearly tripled in price in the last five years to about $2 a pound, according to the California Walnut Board.
When business is in a regulatory choke hold, people make …other arrangements. As goes CA so goes the Nation.