-July 9,2020-

Condors are back in Sequoia Park

For the first time in 50 years condors can be seen in Sequoia National Park after being near extinct in the 1980s.The USFWS Pacific Southwest Region staff recently photographed several California Condors soaring through Sequoia National Park.Here are several at Moro Rock taking in the view.

COVID cases in Fresno County spike

Fresno County is averaging nearly 400 new cases daily in the past week – a rising trend. In late June the average was about 130 new cases daily.

Kings County state prisons COVID cases way down

Kings County’s 2 big state prisons have been COVID hot spots in the past month. But now new cases have moderated to a handful in the past 2 weeks. Still, Avenal prison has 78 staff members who have contracted coronavirus.There have been 3 deaths among prisoners at  Avenal.

Energy storage project in Fresno County

The California Energy Commission will provide a grant of $1,999,787 to Antora Energy, Inc. to develop and field-test a breakthrough, long-duration, energy storage system based on thermophotovoltaic (TPV) technology. A pilot-scale TPV facility will be built at an existing cogeneration power plant site east of the City of San Joaquin in Fresno County. Beneficiaries will include users of the new technology and California’s investor-owned electric utilities and their customers (i.e., ratepayers); along with the public at large and the environment says the commission.

-July 5,2020-

Kaweah Delta has 150 employees with COVID

Kaweah Delta Hospital CEO Gary Herbst pleaded with the public  at a County news conference July 3 to follow social distance rules and wear mask as county hospitals experience a new surge of cases.There are some 75 beds filled with COVID patients. He said 150 KD employees have now tested positive for the Coronavirus.

Tulare County’s cumulative case rate per 100,000 has increased to over 300 as of July 2 from around 100 as of June 1. Over the last two weeks, officials have confirmed 1,581 new cases, which amounts to 343 per 100,000.

Herbst says the hospital is near capacity now with the return of normal -non COVID treatment patients- compounded by what has been a sudden surge in COVID patients in recent weeks. The               pressure on the staff is as big a problem as the lack of available beds with over 50  employees quarantined at home and exhausted workers facing 12 hours shifts. He describes his pleas to the public as “desperate”.

While it may be too soon to say, the daily case load in Tulare County went down on 7/2 to 97 cases says the state. They had been as high as 160 to 200 daily in recent days.There has been 136 deaths in the county since this began, most coming from nursing homes.         

Tulare County reports the recent COVID surge matches what we see across the country with more younger victims testing positive and fewer cluster victims from food processors and nursing homes. Still workers from  a Fresno County meat plant are testing positive. Some 19 Tulare County residents from the Harris Ranch in Selma have tested positive for COVID-19.Fresno County will not release the details.Fresno County reports a surge in new cases, a new daily high at 381 on 7/3.

Hispanics face higher risk of COVID, not in Tulare County

Tulare County Hispanics number 53.5% of COVID cases according to the Tulare County Public Health Department, actually below the  65.6% Hispanic percentage in the County.  Statewide the percent of Hispanics  among the California COVID cases as of July 2 is 57.5% ,well above their 38.9% percentage of the population.

Tulare County property value rises

Tulare County ’s property value total for the 2020/21 year went from $36.5 billion a year earlier to $38.3 billion, an increase of 4.95%.  Visalia’s assessed roll increased  5.69% while Woodlake led all cities with a pump of 7.49%.

Bookings rise at Visalia Convention Center

One of Visalia’s key economic indicators – secured future hotel room nights – is signaling prosperous years ahead despite the recent COVID-19 outbreak. Visit Visalia, the area’s leading hospitality and tourism organization, announced today major convention bookings for future years that combined will bring more than $2.5 million into the local economy. These groups represent religious, fraternal and multi-level marketing segments and are estimated to bring 10,115 hotel room nights to the city. This outpaces 2019, which accounted for 9,156 room nights contracted and represented $2.3 million in economic impact.

In the largest booking yet – a Catholic fraternal organization dedicated to promoting and conducting educational, charitable, religious and social welfare work is expected to bring 8,500 cumulative room nights over a 5-year period and an economic impact of more than $1.5 million.  In June 2020, the pandemic forced a large cancellation but the convention has now been rebooked.

Goodwill plans relocation

Goodwill will be moving from their Mooney Blvd store across from the mall sometime soon.The 14,000sf building has been put up for lease  while the charity seeks a smaller space.

Credit union coming to northside

Tulare County Federal Credit Union wants to build  a 3000sf office on the northeast corner of Mooney and Riggin on land owned by the Shannon family.

Big development slated for Riggin and Akers. 

A 511-acre mixed use development north of Riggin and west of Akers is in the works. The project mostly located on Shannon family land, would  be masterplanned around several schools to be built or already built in the area. Most of the project would be dedicated to new homes.Called Carlton Acres, the property is also known as Hayes Ranch.

Cardinal Logistics truck facility planned inTulare

 A remolded building at 2861 South K Street, the former Valley Veterinarians building, will house trucks used to deliver milk to Land O Lakes and Saputo. Cardinal Logistics will be operating the new Tulare business after Valley Vets relocated to a new larger space at 116 W Cedar Ave as of March 2020. Cardinal Logistics is a freight company  owned by H.I.G Capital of Miami.

 

Board honors Kings County’s Colleen Carlson

-July 4,2020-

California High Speed Rail Regional Director Diana Gomez will leave her position later this month after being with the rail authority since 2012. Gomez will become the Director of CalTrans District 6- Central Valley as of July 13, she says.

Before being appointed to the CHSRA, Gomez, a Fresno State grad in engineering, worked for 25 years on transportation projects with CalTrans including a stint in Los Angeles as Deputy District Director of Operations.

Gomez has been on the front lines in her job as champion of the big rail project, the subject of plenty of controversy particularly in the farm communities of the Central Valley. Besides being an advocate she oversaw implementation of contracts to begin the statewide building process launched in the mid-state.  Her office is in Fresno. She is a native of the Central Valley, her focus where  the first dirt was moved on what is planned to be a statewide rail system.

During her 7 years in guiding the building of the state’s largest public works project, Gomez oversaw construction of some 119 miles of infrastructure from Madera County to Kern County with some 30 active construction sites now and more than 4,000 construction jobs.

Skepticism that the rail line would not move forward was seen in places like Kings County where residents are now watching it rise out of the ground this summer near Lacey Boulevard where the Hanford Viaduct will begin to cross over Highway 198. More than 7,000 production piles are being driven for the foundation of the bridge/ viaduct, also the site of the proposed Hanford HSR station. The latest numbers show over 400 workers are on the project in the 45 mile CP2/3 segment that includes Kings County.

Recently at a meeting, the County of Kings, Tulare and Kings COG and the City of Hanford discussed creating a MOU on the roll-out of the station and its implementation. HSR will be creating similar MOUs with the cities of Fresno and Bakersfield on the station implementation, confirms a spokesperson.

Garth Fernandez will be the interim Central Valley Regional Director as HSR works on permanently filling the Governor appointed position.

At the June 25 CHSRA board meeting Diana Gomez was hailed by board members and CEO Brian Kelly as a key person helping to steer the organization through plenty of ups and downs and though there were critics of the program – all saluted Gomez who was able to work with all parties. ”She has the ability to move the ball forward ” said board member Nancy Miller.

California High Speed Rail honors former Kings County Counsel Colleen Carlson

At their June 25 CHSRA board meeting vice chair Tom Richards honored former Kings County Counsel Colleen Carlson as an “advocate for her community” even though she was on the opposite side of the table in negotiations between the two parties. Carlson died recently. She was in her position with Kings County for over 9 years before stepping down last year. Richards noted that CHSRA and Kings County have now “settled their differences.”

 

Developer dumps cineplex project replaced by apartments

-July 2,2020-

One of Visalia’s largest shopping center developers is making big changes in their plans for land across from Costco, just a block off Mooney Blvd.

DBO Development also knowns as the Orosco Group has filed new plans July 1 with the city seeking approval to build a large 274 unit apartment complex where they had been marketing an expansion of the Packwood Creek Shopping Center across from their Grove South project that is next to Costco.That old site-plan on the 16 acre empty parcel on Cameron had featured a movie theater complex as its anchor tenant.

Pictured left: former plan for 16 acre parcel on Cameron . On right latest plan for 274 unit apartment complex

The change in the developer’s plans coincides with a tidal wave that is boosting e-commerce this summer – impacted of course by the COVID stay-at-home phenom. In turn, this wave has impacted many familiar brick and mortar stores who are now watching their former customers doing most of their shopping over the internet.

That in turn is clearly putting the hurt on shopping center developers like DBO whose bread and butter is dependent on retail growth – not contraction.

The trend has been well under way for many months in every-town USA, in places like Porterville California where after some 15 years of struggle to get approvals in place for a Walmart SuperCenter that included never ending litigation, the company with approvals  finally in-hand, last summer suddenly pulled the plug on the project. The vacant land, still owned by Walmart just sits there today with no takers say sources

Reliable sources add that the decision to pull back in Porterville is happening across the nation with Walmart putting most new projects on hold- well before COVID hit by the way. The company is moving forward on one long term project however, the grocery store at the Noble Ave Walmart in Visalia, expected to open this fall.

Saddled with vacant commercial land, developers like Orosco and hundreds of others in the Valley are likely to turn to other development plans – ones that they hope they can still fill with tenants.Not just retail ones.

The movie business

Reduced demand and financial troubles are impacting not just retailers but movie theaters.

Theaters closed since March remain empty as people stay home and shun indoor gathering spaces.Across the country movie theaters are shuttered this summer with some theatre chains warning they may not re-open.

The theater chain AMC warned it may not survive the coronavirus pandemic as film studios explore releasing more movies directly to viewers over the internet.

Regal Theaters plans to reopen cinemas on July 31 say sources. The company has a theater at Sequoia Mall – near what had been the proposed DBO cinema complex. Source says Regal still plans to move forward on the plan announced in January to build a new theater complex at the west end of Sequoia Mall despite everything that is happening.

With a new theater in the works nearby and  weakness in the industry, it’s no wonder Orosco decided to rethink how to fill this open property across from Costco. Now he can market to renters that the location is “right across from Costco.”

Another developer in Porterville is downsizing planned commercial acreage in a mixed-use project replacing commercial acres with more apartments as well. The applicant is proposing a modification to the existing master plan for Henderson Villas to accommodate the addition of a 104 unit second phase to the initial (168 unit) complex. The increase in units will require a reduction in the size of the commercial and retail spaces to be built along Henderson says a city report.

Industrial boom?

If there is weakness in the big box and entertainment sectors that will be hurting the Visalia economy from here on – the same trend may be the cause of a boom in industrial real estate at the Visalia Industrial Park.

Industrial developer Prologis was recently was quoted in the Wall Street Journal noting that retailers and those who supply them now have “ Higher inventory levels and the accelerating growth of e-commerce, which typically requires about three times as much space as traditional distribution operations that serve stores, could increase U.S. warehouse demand by as much as 400 million square feet over the next two to three years, the company forecasts.”

It’s not just inside gatherings that are being affected right now.This week Visalia’s single-A pro baseball season was canceled until next year even though fans sit in outside grandstands.

-July 1,2020-

The Tulare County Fair board will hold an “emergency meeting” July 1 at 5 PM to consider cancellation of at least some of this this year’s fair events. The agenda posted reads the board may approve cancellation letters to entertainers who would have attended this September’s fair as well as cancelation of grandstand events.The schedule called for the 5-day event to be held September 16-20.

The potential exists for a down-sized event that could allow livestock showing that could be managed so as not to draw large crowds to the annual gathering and allow social distancing.The 2020 community event would the 101st Tulare County Fair. Some counties have approved a limited livestock show, open only to exhibitors and their immediate families, with no outside spectators.

The apparent decision to cancel the popular fair comes as COVID-19 cases rise both locally and around the state. Statewide, the majority of the county fairs have now been canceled.Including the state and mid-state fairs, the California Department of Food and Agriculture lists 76 annual festivals. This year, just 20 of those 76 will be held with info as of June 12.Cancelations include the popular Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles this year and the Porterville Fair last April. Still on, the October Big Fresno Fair.

The California Farm Bureau recently reported what this may mean for county fairs going forward.”The county fairs themselves suffer from lost revenue. Some may not be able to return from impacts of the pandemic, fair managers and fair board members said. The California Fairs Alliance estimates the cost of canceled events and fair closures at $200 million.”

-June 29,2020-

The US Navy pulled out all their guns earlier in June sinking plans for a 362 home subdivision planned by Lennar Homes just east of West Hills College.The Navy even buzzed the Lemoore City Council meeting just when they were discussing the agenda item with the roar of FA-18 Hornets reverberating in council chambers for 45 minutes according to accounts of the June 16 meeting.

Only two weeks earlier (June 2) the council had approved the first reading of a proposed ordinance that had passed the planning commission in May, that would have allowed the big housing project. But after the Navy’s persuasive tactical maneuvers, council decided not to vote on the second reading- essentially torpedoing the project.

Navy spokesperson Christ Fisher remarked” Naval Air Station Lemoore is concerned that the actions (homes) will lead to encroachment of mission, incompatible development, subject individuals to high aircraft noise, and expose our aircrews and future Lemoore residents to unnecessary health and safety risks.” said Fisher.

“Encroachment occurs over time, and ultimately it ends in open hostilities between the military installation and the community. I predict by allowing incompatible development, the city council tipped the domino that will set in motion events that ultimately lead to conflict between NAS Lemoore and the city of Lemoore.”

The Lemoore Leader newspaper describes Lemoore City Manager Nate Olson’s response to the Navy opposition to a development- not on the west side of the college but to the east of it.

“Lemoore City Manager Nathan Olson said a lot of time and money was put into the proposed housing tract and reminded the council and navy officials that future development ends at the college.

“We had a deal that we would not grow past the college,” said Olson. “You’re currently flying over houses that were built decades ago. I feel like the city has kept up our end of the agreement. We are still six miles away. That is far from encroachment, and we don’t control any of that land to the west of us.”

“It’s not fair to stop and unwind all the work we’ve done,” said the Lemoore city manager. “We have spent a lot of time, effort, and money in making this happen.”

He added that economic development is essential to the city’s growth and stability. “We have a great developer that wants to invest in our city, and we’re sitting here doing this? This has been decades in the making. I’m frustrated. I know where you’re coming from, but West Hills College is not going to kill NAS Lemoore. It just isn’t.”

But Navy authorities were adamant noting that the base provides over $1 billion in economic impact to the local economy and repeating that “ the encroachment could have a catastrophic impact on NAS Lemoore’s mission.” They point to the fact that low level flights will occur over the 362 homes with future residents subject to sound levels ranging from 89 to 101 decibels.

They add that they are pouring money into the navy airfield with planned and on-going expenditures of almost $1 billion.

Standing withe the Navy

In the end, the majority on the council appeared to be convinced they would just not vote on the agenda item, slamming the brakes on the project Lennar, one of the nation’s top builders, had been working with the city on the big project project for almost a year.

The Lemoore Leader describes the discussions this way.

Olson simplified the argument by telling council members that the Navy’s solution is to not build houses, and the city wants to build new homes and grow. If the Navy succeeds in its argument, “nobody’s going to want to come to Lemoore and build houses. This is not good for the city.”

Mayor pro tem John Plourde wondered out loud whether it was in the best interest of the city of Lemoore to have homes, a lot of them, at that location while the Navy sits just 7.3 miles away. “There’s been a lot of planning. I was kind of swayed both ways.”
Mayor Eddie Neal chimed in: “When it comes to the safety of my community, I’m going to stand with the Navy. That’s where I’m at,” he said as councilmembers failed to make a motion and vote.

-June 26,2020-

Some 80% of deaths from nursing homes

Tulare County’s COVID-19 cases now number 3533 as of June 25. Of those, 797 are active. There have been 118 deaths and 985 are self quarantined. 56 COVID patients are in the hospital

In the group categories there 6 nursing homes reporting more than 11 cases each. Here are the statistics:

Nursing homes with 11 or more cases:

Redwood Springs: 214 total cases, 34 deaths, 178 recovered

Linwood Meadows: 62 total cases, 14 deaths, 20 recovered

Lindsay Gardens: 116 total cases, 18 deaths, 83 recovered 

Dinuba Healthcare: 86 total cases, 13 deaths, 70 recovered

Sierra Valley Rehab: 98 total cases, 12 deaths, 2 recovered

Kaweah Manor: 16 total cases, 1 death, 7 recovered

That totals 592 cases associated with nursing homes in the county or about 17% if the total.It also account for about 80% of the deaths.

Food company clusters – businesses with 11 or more cases: 

Ruiz Foods: 282 cases total: 221 employees and 61 others

Central Valley Meat: 64 cases total: 56 employees and 8 others

****Central Valley Meat are Tulare County residents

Legacy Packing: 34 employees and 1 other

Nichols Farms: 23 employees

That is 404 cases or about 12% of the cases So about 29% of all COVID cases are associated with these 2 group clusters.

An LA Times analysis (June 25)  found that over the past two weeks, Tulare County has recorded 1,101 new cases, failing one of the governor’s performance metrics. In that time, it has reported 22 deaths.Tulare has the 11th highest number of coronavirus cases among the state’s 58 counties and the eighth most deaths.

Prison cases

In other late breaking news Fresno County jail COVID positive cases now number 108 inmates.In nearby Kings County the caseload at two large state prisons as of June 26 are-Avenal -928 cases and 22 in the past 2 weeks as well as 2 deaths. At Corcoran – 155 inmates have tested positive with 57 cases in the past 2 weeks. Staff at the 2 prisons testing positive now numbers 91.

-June 24,2020-

Macy’s & Penny’s open at Visalia Mall

Visalia Mall general manger Rick Feder says most of the mall tenants are open including Macy’s and JC Penney this week. Bath & Body Works will open on 7/3. Victoria’s Secret, Build A Bear, AT&T and Sports Fever are not open yet. A face covering is recommended in the mall. Most stores require masks to enter their store to shop.

Meanwhile the mall’s owner Brookfield Properties along with another mall property owner – Simon Property Group Inc. – is digging into its wallet say WSJ “ to rescue another big tenant, a move that could help stabilize its mall business but one that raises new questions about the industry’s longer-term viability, analysts say.

The biggest mall owner in the U.S. by number of malls is teaming up with Brookfield Property Partners, another large owner of shopping centers, in exploring a bid for J.C. Penney Co., according to a person familiar with the matter. The department-store chain filed for bankruptcy in May.”

Valley Strong Credit Union opening on N Dinuba Blvd

Kern School Credit Union, now rebranded as Valley Strong Credit Union has leased space on North Dinuba Blvd in Visalia, one of two locations in Visalia they expect to open. The latest is space leased from Donahue Schreiber at the former Mattress Firm spot    in the Target shopping center at 3030 N Dinuba Blvd, Unit A .\Valley Strong has also signed a deal to open a location at the proposed shopping center at SW corner of Mooney and Visalia Parkway. The Kern-based credit union is opening in Tulare as well.                      

Boot Barn remodel underway in Visalia

Permits to remodel 4018 S Mooney by Boot Barn have been issued and construction is underway at the former Pier One location in Packwood Creek. The Western ware store has a location in Tulare.

New taqueria coming to Downtown Visalia

TDK’s Tacos is coming to Downtown Visalia to be located at 125 E Main – the former Poke House. A bulk transfer is set for July. Owned by Duval Espinoza, the new restaurant by the owner of Wimpy’s Hamburgers is the  latest project by Exeter based  Espinoza.

Tulare County median home price higher in May but sales plunge

California Association of Realtors reports existing May home sales in Tulare County fell 24% from a year earlier. Statewide sales were down 41%. But the median sales price rose slightly in Tulare County to $255,250.

-June 19,2020-

Wonderful Company threatens legal action over Terra Bella facility

What is expected to be one of the largest California pistachio crops this fall has stimulated the competitive juices of rival growers in the Central Valley over the past 6 months. Now we see it spilling over to Tulare County.

The world’s largest pistachio handler, Wonderful Company, owned by Los Angeles-based Stewart Resnick, already grows or processes about half the state volume of the valuable nut. Resnick, considered the state’s richest farmer, is also top grower of citrus, pomegranates and almonds and owns Fiji Water, Justin Vineyards and the flower delivery company Teleflora.

Last year one of the largest of 800 pistachio growers allied with Wonderful announced they would build their own processing facility in western Fresno County.

Fresno’s well-known Assemi family sought a permit to build one of the world’s largest processing plants near Hwy I-5. The future plant boasts, by one source, 240-one million pound storage silos The family will rebrand their company as Touchstone Pistachios.

That sprawling facility did not get built in time to handle the big 2020 crop coming this September however, due to litigation by rival Wonderful Company who alleged that Fresno County had not followed the state’s environmental review process – CEQA in the permitting process. Now the plant is not expected to operate until 2021 says Rudy Placentia with Touchstone. Placentia said, beyond that, he could not comment.

The three Assemi Brothers have 15 Central Valley pistachio farms that had been supplying Wonderful since 2004 growing their nut volume to around 30 million pounds annually.The company’s founder, Dairus Assemi immigrated from Iran to the US in the 1970s joining his brothers Farid and Farshid starting a number of successful enterprises in the region including Granville Homes. Darius is also the publisher of GV Wire.

Not unlike Resnick’s success in multiple fields, the Assemi family is also known for generosity as well as business acumen. Like Resnick —they are also tough competitors.

Wonderful Co, formerly Paramount Farms, owns about 30,000 acres of pistachios but has attracted enough growers to handle about half the state crop. The balance comes from small and large growers that are part of the Wonderful cooperative, based in Lost Hills.

Resnicks own just 10% of the state’s pistachio groves themselves.

There are 300,000 acres of pistachios grown in California with new groves coming into production each year. About 98% of the US crop comes from the Golden State.

To thwart their new competitor Wonderful convinced Fresno County and the Assemis to redo the permitting for the new Touchstone plant with a settlement announced in January of this year.The Assemis had to place $250,000 in an escrow account to cover any expense the county might have in extending the review process.

A handful of family-owned operations, around 10, supply about 95 percent of the state’s pistachio crop, says Bob Klein, general manager of the Administrative Committee for Pistachios. Number two handler is Terra Bella-based Setton Farms.

Well known pistachio operators you may have heard of include Nichols Farms in Hanford, Horizon Nut in Tulare and Kennan Farms in Kettleman City.

The relationship between Resnick and the Assemis was apparently much better in the past. The LA Times reported that “The Assemis and Resnicks have a history dating back at least to 2014, and in the past it appears to have been close. The family received several loans from the Resnicks’ charitable foundation apparently at low interest rates starting as early as 2014, according to foundation records. In 2016, the latest year reported by the foundation, the Assemis owed about $35 million on a $45-million loan originated in August 2016.”

But in 2018 the Assemi brothers filed a lawsuit against Wonderful Pistachios for breaching its contract and withholding money due for that years’ crop.

When the Assemi family advised Resnick they would split off from Wonderful, the family alleges in legal filings that Resnick said, “I am going to war with you …”

Fast forward-looks like the battle is continuing.

Battlefield moves to Tulare County

Now the Assemi Brothers- left with fewer options to process this year’s crop- recently made a deal – according to reliable sources- to purchase or merge with a family-owned pistachio grower and processor in Tulare County – Terra Bella-based ARO, owned by Iranian pioneer grower Dr. Mehdi Brandi and his son and CEO Adam Orandi. The company grows many Iranian varieties of pistachios brought from the old country by Dr Orandi in the 1970s. Iran is the  second largest producer of pistachios behind the US.

Aro has been expanding their facility in the past few years including adding a $3.3 million dryer in 2018, 4 new silos that year and in May of this year got a permit from Tulare County for 3 more silos.

Now it appears the pistachios war we saw play itself out in Fresno County has spilled over into Tulare County with Wonderful Company lawyers complaining to Tulare County about the CEQA process in permitting the latest 3 new silos.

Adam Orandi did not respond to calls for comment.Their ranch is pictured

Tulare County received a letter a few weeks ago suggesting the permitting of the ARO silos was not done correctly. Tulare County Economic  Development Manager Mike Washam disputes this.”We’ve done everything above board and properly“ says Washam pointing to a closed-door legal matter that was heard by the Tulare County Board of Supervisors June 16.

The supervisor’s agenda item reads “CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – ANTICIPATED LITIGATION. Threat of litigation against the County expressed in a letter dated May 20, 2020 from Latham & Watkins LLP on behalf of the Wonderful Company concerning the Aro Pistachio Inc. processing facility at 19570 Avenue 88, Terra Bella, CA.”

Crop update

Another note. Klein says the 2020 crop does not look as large as earlier predicted a few months ago at 1.2 billion pounds.Due to lack of chill hours and bloom issues the bet now is about 950 million pounds. That would be slightly lower than the last “on” year when it came in at 984 million pounds.

Regards Iran and California – the nut has it roots in Iran when in 1929 Chico New Plant Introduction Station sent sent William E. Whitehouse, a deciduous tree researcher to Iran to collect pistachio seeds for planting.The seed brought back is the mother of all the pistachio trees now grown in California.

Competition between Iran and US-grown nuts is fierce but varies by year says Bob Klein in that Iran has water problems and is not good at supplying the world’s largest market – China – with enough supply in the high demand weeks of Chinese New Year coming just a few months after the nut comes off the trees.

Competition heated up back in 1979  when Iranian college students stormed the American Embassy in Tehran, taking dozens of hostages.There has been tension since resulting in sales benefits for the US pistachio industry who pushed for a retaliatory trade war against Iranian-grown pistachios. As a result California’s new born pistachio industry exploded. It still is and there remains strong sentiment here to keep trade restrictions in place.

The first commercial crop of 1.5 million pounds “Kerman” pistachios was harvested in California in 1976.Once established California pistachio production increased rapidly from 1,700 acres in 1977 to 178,000 acres in 2012 and 300,000 acres today.

The size of the California crop has doubled since 2014, setting the stage for what is happening among the big players.

One ag economist predicts California pistachio production could exceed 1.4 billion pounds by 2026, given trees planted over the past five years, a conservative projection for new planting in the next three years, normal weather patterns, and no major interruptions to water supplies.The crop alternates in a ”on and off “ year pattern with significant production swings.

 97 test positive at Corcoran State Prison 

-June 7,2020-

COVID-19 infections have spread to Corcoran State Prison this weekend with the number of inmates testing positive rising from 17 on Friday to 90 by Sunday as well as 7 staff members.

The news, released on the California Corrections Department website, is the second spike of cases in the county recently with nearby Avenal State Prison numbers now near 900 cases, rising in the past week, one of the highest counts in the state prison system. A protest outside the gates of the prison was held this weekend.

Increased positive finds come as more inmates and staff at CDR facilities around the state are tested for the contagious virus.

Corcoran’s various facilities house around 3600 inmates,1400 staff and 900 support staff.