They're draining an entire state dry.
California's Central Valley is one of the most productive agricultural regions on earth — and almond farming is sucking it dry. Almond orchards now cover over 1.6 million acres, and unlike vegetables or grains, you can't just stop watering them. They're trees. They drink year-round, drought or not.
"Almonds are a perennial crop. In a drought year, farmers can't just not water them — they'd lose the entire orchard. So groundwater gets pumped regardless."
— UC Davis Water Resource ResearchAquifers that took thousands of years to fill are being drawn down in decades. In some parts of the Central Valley, the land itself is sinking — a process called subsidence — because so much water has been pulled from underground. This is permanent. You can't refill an aquifer.
The almond industry is killing bees. Commercially.
Almonds require cross-pollination, which means every February, the almond industry trucks in roughly 2 million beehives from across the country — nearly 70% of all commercially managed honeybee colonies in the US. They're concentrated into a monoculture, exposed to pesticides, and worked to exhaustion in a matter of weeks.
Of all US commercial hives
Mobilized to California every February to pollinate almond orchards. This annual stress is a major driver of colony collapse disorder.
Annual colony losses
US beekeepers report losing 30–40% of their colonies each year. Almond season stress, pesticide exposure, and monoculture conditions are primary factors.
What almonds do for bees
Almond blossoms don't produce significant pollen or nectar for bees to eat. Bees work the orchards and come out with nothing — except exhaustion.
Taxpayers are subsidizing this.
Almond farming in California receives federal crop insurance subsidies, irrigation water at below-market rates, and benefits from agricultural tax structures that make it more financially attractive to grow water-intensive crops in a desert climate than the actual environmental cost would suggest.
Meanwhile, smaller California farmers who grow food crops — vegetables, fruit, grain — compete for the same depleted water supply. The almond industry's political lobbying has protected its access to subsidized water even during the worst droughts on record.
"The price of almonds does not reflect the true cost of the water used to grow them. If it did, almond milk would cost $15 a carton."
— Pacific Institute Water AnalysisWho's behind the curtain — and what they've bought.
The almond industry doesn't just grow nuts. It grows political cover. Here are the players who've spent decades ensuring the regulations that would fix this problem never arrive.
The Almond Board of California
A federally mandated checkoff program — meaning every almond grower is required by law to pay into it. The Board spends tens of millions annually on marketing ("Heart-healthy! Protein-packed!") and lobbying. It's industry propaganda with mandatory dues. When you see an almond ad, a farmer was legally required to fund it.
Blue Diamond Growers
The world's largest almond processor and marketer. A member-owned co-op that controls roughly 40% of global almond supply. Blue Diamond coordinates with the Almond Board on policy positions and has consistently lobbied against water-use transparency requirements, environmental impact disclosures, and pesticide reform. "Almonds for good" is their slogan. The aquifer disagrees.
Western Growers Association
The main agricultural lobbying arm in Sacramento and D.C. Represents almond, pistachio, and tree-nut interests alongside other large-scale CA agriculture. Has fought against groundwater sustainability rules, opposed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act implementation, and lobbied for continued below-market water allocations from state and federal water projects.
"He is the biggest water baron in California, and possibly in the nation. He doesn't own the water, but he effectively controls it."
— ProPublica, on Stewart Resnick, The Wonderful CompanyThe Resnicks — The Wonderful Company
Stewart and Lynda Resnick are the single largest private water users in California. Their company, The Wonderful Company, controls over 180,000 acres of California farmland growing almonds, pistachios, citrus, and pomegranates. Their flagship brands — Wonderful Almonds, POM Wonderful, Fiji Water, JUSTIN Wine, Halos — sit on virtually every grocery shelf in America.
Their real asset isn't the crops. It's the water. In the 1990s, the Resnicks were instrumental in gaining control of the Kern Water Bank — a massive underground water storage facility originally built with public funds. Through a complex series of arrangements with the Kern County Water Agency, they secured the ability to store and extract water at scale, effectively privatizing a public resource. During California's worst droughts, while cities implemented restrictions, Resnick farmland continued receiving water.
The Resnicks have donated millions to California politicians across both parties. They've funded think tanks, university research chairs, and environmental foundations — building a web of goodwill that makes it politically costly to regulate them. When journalists began investigating their water holdings, The Wonderful Company responded with aggressive PR, not policy changes.
Sources: ProPublica "The Kings of California," LA Times "Billionaires Got Billions in Government Water," New Yorker "The Mogul of the Middle East"
Almond "milk" is mostly water anyway.
Here's the kicker: a typical carton of commercial almond milk contains approximately 2% almonds. The rest is water, thickeners, sugar, and flavorings. You're spending 1.1 gallons of California groundwater per almond, turning it into a product that's 98% the tap water you could have just... used.
Actual almonds in almond milk
The rest is water, sunflower lecithin, locust bean gum, and whatever else keeps it from separating on the shelf.
Water to make one glass
A single glass of almond milk requires roughly 74 liters of water to produce. Oat milk: about 5 liters. Do the math.
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