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In a large plant in the heart of California's farmland, millions of pistachios are inspected, prepared and shipped off around the world.

Pistachios, a kind of nut, have been around for over 3,000 years. First planted in central Asia, pistachios arrived in California in the 1850s along with thousands of people during the Gold Rush.

Since pistachios require little water, farmers have been using more land for the crops in California. Pistachios brought in nearly $3 billion last year in the state. And, in the past ten years, the United States has gone beyond Iran to become the world's top exporter of the nut.

"There has been an explosion over the last 10 or 15 years of plantings, and those trees are coming online," said Zachary Fraser. He is president and chief executive¹ of American Pistachio Growers, an organization that represents more than 800 farmers in the southwestern U.S. "You are starting to see the fruit of people's vision from 40 years ago."

California agricultural data shows that the state grows more than a third of vegetables and three-fourths of fruits and nuts in the U.S.

Pistachios have increased over the past ten years to become California's sixth-biggest agricultural product. The nuts have increased in value ahead of longtime crops such as strawberries and tomatoes, the data shows.

Much of the pistachio crop is headed to China, where it is a popular treat during Lunar New Year. But industry experts said Americans are also eating more pistachios.

The nuts were rarely seen in food stores a generation ago and today are found almost everywhere.

Pistachios are sold with or without shells. Their flavors range from salt and pepper to honey-roasted.

The Wonderful Co., a $6 billion agricultural company, is the biggest name in pistachios. The company has grown pistachios since the 1980s. But it increased production in 2015 after developing a rootstock that produces as much as 40 percent more nuts with the same soil and water, said Rob Yraceburu, president of Wonderful Orchards².

Now, Wonderful grows between 15 percent and 20 percent of the U.S. pistachio crop, he said.

"There is an increasingly growing demand in pistachios," Yraceburu said. "The world wants more."

Pistachios weather dry times better

Pistachios are set to weather California's dry times better than the state's even bigger nut crop, almonds.

Almonds produced nearly $4 billion in the state last year, industry experts said.

Pistachio orchards can survive with minimal³ water during drought, unlike almonds and other more sensitive crops. The trees also use wind instead of bees for pollination⁴ and can produce nuts for many years longer, Yraceburu said.

Many California farmers who grow pistachios and almonds are using lessons learned from almond farming. Almond production, which is much bigger than pistachio, also increased quickly in California. But prices fell amid a large amount of post-pandemic supply. At the same time, farmers faced a time of too little water and rising input⁵ costs.

As a result, some farmers did not replant aging orchards when it came time to take them out.

Pistachio growers say they hope to avoid a similar outcome⁶ and are working to keep demand for the nut ahead of supply. For example, American Pistachio Growers recently signed a deal with a top cricket⁷ player in India hoping to help promote pistachios there, Fraser said.

The rise of pistachios is part of California farmers' move into perennial⁸ crops, commanding higher returns than products such as cotton. Perennial crops, which are not replanted every year, cannot just be changed out during dry years. As a result, they can be difficult during long periods with too little water, said Brad Franklin of the Public Policy Institute of California.

But pistachios have benefits that other perennial crops do not have. They can go longer without water and grow in salty soils. That may make them appealing to California farmers who are facing limits on how much groundwater they can use under a new state law, he said.

Words in This Story

drought - n. a period of dryness (especially one that causes extensive damage to crops)

pollination - n. the act of giving (a plant) pollen⁹ from another plant of the same kind so that seeds will be produced

rootstock - n. an underground part of a plant

cricket - n. a game played on a large field by two teams of 11 players. The players try to score runs by hitting a small ball and then running between sets of wooden sticks

benefit - n. a good or helpful result or effect