Almonds getting roasted in debate over Calif. water use

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO

California almonds are becoming one of the world’s favorite snacks and creating a multibillion-dollar bonanza for agricultural investors. But the crop extracts a staggering price from the land, consuming more water than all the showering, dish-washing and other indoor household water use of California’s 39 million people.

As California enters its fourth year of drought and imposes the first mandatory statewide water cutbacks on cities and towns, the $6.5 billion almond crop is helping drive a sharp debate about water use, agricultural interests and how both affect the state’s giant economy.

Almonds have claimed the spotlight as “the poster child of all things bad in water,” almond grower Bob Weimer said.

People around the world are eating more than 1,000 percent more California almonds than they did just a decade ago, and last year almonds became the top export crop in the nation’s top agriculture state. China’s booming middle class is driving much of the demand.

That strong Asia market is producing up to 30 percent returns for investors, prompting agri-businesses to expand almond planting in the state by two-thirds in the past decade. The crop has come to be dominated by global corporations and investment funds.

Rows of almond trees now cover nearly 1 million acres in California, many of them on previously virgin hillsides or in pastures or desert with little rain or local water. Since each tiny nut requires a gallon of water, almonds are consuming 1.07 trillion gallons annually in the state, one-fifth more than California families use indoors.

So when Gov. Jerry Brown ordered cities and towns this month to cut their water consumption by 25 percent but exempted farms, almonds got toasted in the public heat that followed.

“Drought villains?” the Los Angeles Times asked this month. A Sacramento TV station referred to “almond-shaming.” National Public Radio called almond farms “a rogue’s gallery” of water users.

Now almond farmers and investors are on the defensive.

“The tomato growers use a lot more water than we do. You should go after those guys,” said Ryon Paton, a global real-estate developer and principal of Trinitas Partners.