California Nut Thefts Increasing
California's nut crop is facing a challenge of a different breed. This harvest season in California’s Central Valley, thieves cut through a fence and hauled off $400,000 in walnuts. In addition, $100,000 in almonds were stolen by a driver with a fake license and $100,000 in pistachios were taken by a big rig driver who left a farm without filling out any paperwork, according to the Lubbock-Avalanche Journal.
The USDA reported that through 2012 the state's almond crop was valued at $5 billion per year while pistachios were over $1 billion and walnuts more than $1.5 billion.
"Right now, everybody wants to be a nut grower because it's kind of like the gold rush of the 1850s," said Ripon almond farmer Kevin Fondse of Fondse Brothers Inc. "Everybody wants the gold."
In October, 140,000 pounds of processed walnuts from GoldRiver Orchards were also stolen.
Growers and nut processors report they have been hit hard in the past year and a coalition of nut associations formed a taskforce in October to seek the advice of law enforcement and to create an eight-step checklist for growers and nut processors. The list includes fingerprinting drivers, taking their photos and calling the broker to confirm that the paperwork is legitimate.
Have California nuts become a new form of currency?
Lubbock-Avalanche Journal
