This drought has brought Stewart to his knees. John Vidovich. Its been more than a year since he gave me the cold shoulder at the pistachio conference. The sober man died. There before me, two aluminum pipes, side by side, 12 inches in diameter each, slither in the sun. A giant pistachio nut flashes on the big screen. Boswell, who owned more land and controlled more water than any other person in the West for most of the 20th century. Whether those pipes end on Vidovich lands or Resnicks is hard to know. Theyre paying $340 a month for its privilege. They do that because they love it., A POM craze followed. And when youve been as lucky as weve been, you start to think you can ride out drought, too., He did learn one lesson. john vidovich documentary. It took time to gain the respect of the people, and I was afraid. Thats all fine and good, Resnick replied, but what about the $1 million-plus hed spent on lawyers fees? Vidovich shrugged it off, saying the flaw amounted to putting the descriptions on the wrong pages and quickly appealed. We are sensitive to that. He owns the land next to the aqueduct where the reservoir would be built and is the one who brought the floodwater project idea to Semitropic a few years ago. Your weekly print newspaper delivered, and more, Weekly Print Edition delivered to your mailbox, When you don't want the printed newspaper. This amounted to 14,000 acre-feet. It must have wounded all the more because she and Stewart thought of themselves as progressive Democrats. I exited my car and approached the entrance with its 14-foot columns and wrought-iron balustrades. The white flowers have set into buds, and the buds have become baby almonds covered in fuzz. The nets of the Chinese during the Gold Rush caught terrapin that was served as turtle soup in the fanciest restaurants of San Francisco. Well, maybe just a little guilt, but thats Jewish. He said the prod for all their giving in Lost Hills happened in Aspen, of all places. And, yes, that takes water. Its artificiality had achieved a permanence; its permanence had created my California. But not even the two projects working in perfect tandem can defy drought. Of all the property available in Kings County, I'm not sure why he chose that property. I thank him and hurry down the dirt road through the almonds, eyeing the rearview mirror to see if a Resnick truck is following me. His father bought a neighborhood bar and ran it with the same iron fist with which he ran the house. Floodwater is considered a nuisance, a menace even. Yes. They just do what they want and you have to sue to stop em, Mitchell said. My grandfather lost the farm to vine hoppers is the story he told. Because the urban places would pay a hell of a lot of money for it. Ninety-nine is the deadliest highway in America. Like a lot of empires, it comes to an end., So what about you? I ask. Even if I were to move water and sell it, it would be to farming operations.. Number two, Angiola is trying to maintain the local aquifer by retiring land to limit pumping. Coke, Gatorade, and Monster Energy are sky-high in sweeteners, but dont be fooled by that SunnyD, either. Hes oblivious, or so it seems. But thats the way it is. She was aiming to surround herself with famous actors and artists and public intellectuals. Its been more than a year since the grand opening, and theyre still operating in the red. Its a bad day, he says, shooing me out. It should be right here, but I dont see it. Its known as a census-designated place, which is another way of saying that Kern County has every reason to neglect it. Whether its Fresno or Kings or Tulare or Kern counties, hes grabbing land where the groundwater is plenty or a river runs through it or the aqueduct spills its north-to-south flow. They were selling 2,500 acres of oranges and lemons and a packing house for a third of their appraised value, Resnick said. Executive Team Culture Ratings from Discover Employees TOP 15% Discover's Executive Team scores in the Top 15% of similar sized companies on Comparably See Detailed Executive Team Ratings The concept changed the industry. The aquifer either doesnt exist or is so befouled by salts that the water is poison. He takes a look at his watch. We were asleep at the wheel. He paid em three times what anyone else wouldve for their land and now theyre all gettin water because of his policies, Page said. In the maroon of sundown,I follow the workers back to Lost Hills. Through Sandridge, Vidovich owns about 130,000 acres with 38,500 acres in Kern, 82,000 acres in Kings, 9,500 acres in Tulare and 300 acres in Fresno county, per ParcelQuest. I retrace the road I came in on and cross old Tulare Lake, which rose by flood and sank by drought. Boswell had tried to tear apart a copy of The King of California when his secretary asked if he might autograph it. "The issue is the location. One of the first things he did with his monopoly was kill the California Pistachio Commission, the industrys marketing group, by yanking his funding. Satellite images from NASA show the area around the well fields Angiola was pulling from is the epicenter for land subsidence in eastern Tulare County from overpumping. The deed had been done in a series of hidden meetings in Monterey. Hes using it to irrigate his almonds and pistachios in Lost Hills. This is where the pistachios, 400 truckloads a day, 50 days of harvest, come to be weighed, washed, peeled, dried, gassed, sorted, salted, roasted, packaged, and shipped out to the world. The great drought is officially over. If I follow them north through Resnick pomegranates, I can find out where the water is coming from. The piece, I was told, had left Lynda embarrassed and fuming. One day, gunmen mowed down residents with AK-47s and threw grenades at the church filled with parishioners. What was so disappointing and alarming was that West Hills College and other educational institutions in the area are not considered agencies of required notification and (that) needs to be amended," said Oliveira. This was how a billionaire who needed more water did politics. Through the haze I can see the knoll of the aqueduct come closer. So, capturing that south fork floodwater would benefit both Kings and Kern county farmers, according to Semitropics Gianquinto. By harvests end, the Resnicks will have put their clamps on 4.4 million almond trees. Lynda spent $150,000 at an auction to buy the beaded gown and matching bolero jacket, the Elvis Dress, that Princess Diana had worn on a visit to Hong Kong. The eye numbed by the tedium of orchards isnt prepared for the 1.3 million square feet of industrial assault, though the palm trees and roses along the perimeter try for a transition. So much snowmelt comes down the mountain that it nearly takes out Oroville Dam. John Gibler, a freelance journalist, found Lost Hills a year before Lynda. He came on board full-time in 2011, give or take, he said. He says his bosses have been instructing him to cut the water each irrigation. And then they pump more groundwater. He is also known for his water deals. Water that has shipped you know hundreds of miles from the north of California where there are these abundant rivers. Big fish eat the small fish here. Inside, a Wonderful media specialist sees that Resnick needs to be rescued. Still, he insists that it doesn't belong near the city and college. During paid breaks, they do their 15 minutes of Zumba, take a walk along a designated path, and munch on the free fruits and veggies put out for them. The uncle died at age 22 fighting in Afghanistan. It makes interesting reading. In any event, Vidovich fallowed his Angiola land and took its groundwater about 25 miles west to his Dudley Ridge lands. On the shallow bottom, the women fished mussels and clams with their toes. One of Angiolas main well fields is actually inside the Pixley Irrigation District boundaries where water managers were concerned by the amount of water leaving their district. Because its so much fun to say that Lost Hills has been found., The room full of growers applauds. We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content. It cracks open and out pops the head shot of Stewart Resnick in a pistachio green tie. Its a $500 million project, of which Semitropic is hoping to get $250 million from Proposition 1 funding. A judge found this past March that the initiative was flawed because Vidovich used his own project description instead of the neutral description by the Cupertino city attorney. Yes, critics agree, but Boswell uses that water to irrigate in the district. She was the daughter of Jack Harris, a film distributor, who moved the family to Los Angeles when Lynda was 15 to produce movies. Longtime friend and associate Ted Page defended Vidovichs operations. Activate your all-inclusive access for print subscribers: Link your losaltosonline.com account to your print subscription here. The William Saroyan Theatre was packed that October 1996 night. They issued a commemorative medal of Tiger Woods winning the 1997 Masters that offended the golfer. It can be squeezed only so much. There was a majordomo of the house, a butler, a chef, a sous-chef, three housekeepers, a limo driver, and a trio of assistants who worked in the basement, juggling Lyndas calendar and the buying, wrapping, and shipping of gifts she handed out to her Rolodex of highfalutin people. Stewart had made it clear that Lynda would not be joining us. That shadow drove him to work hard in an effort to be useful to De Anza. Carls Jr., Subway, McDonalds, Wendys, Loves, or Arbys. Springsteen shook his head and smiled a thin, ironic smile. The GPS tells me to take Interstate 5, the fastest route through the belly of the state, but Im partial to Highway 99, the old road that brought the Okies and Mexicans to the fields and deposited a twang on my Armenian tongue. On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. But I couldnt have picked a more cinematic name than Lost Hills. Subscribers keep our independent community news in business. Everything about our physical selves, Lynda believes, begins in our guts. Arax: So because there is no groundwater out in Lost Hills, they came up with this idea of pumping groundwater from 40, 50 miles away. Because he hadnt done it with Daddys money or what he considered a superior brain, he attributed his wealth to luck and to a simple lesson he had learned early in life. It was Lynda who teamed up with the USDA to develop 21 new single-family homes and 60 new townhouses on a couple of acres of almonds that Wonderful tore out. Seventy-five years ago, writer Carey McWilliams, in Factories in the Field, lambasted the ribboned Dukes and belted Barons of California agriculture. On a Facebook page with postings in Spanish, they offer a glimpse of life inside pistachio world. They give thanks for a job that provides decent wages and access to a free wellness center next door staffed by a full-time doctor, physicians assistant, registered dietitian, and marriage and family therapist. When the clamps let go of the trunk, 8,000 almonds, green outer shells wilted and partly opened, the meat inside a wooden womb, lie scattered on the flat dry earth. The idea was to enroll at Rutgers and study to become a doctor. Resnick grabs at a pomegranate that might win a blue ribbon at the fair and tries to twist it free. The graders, sorters, and beeping forklift drivers head to an immaculate caf, where the Wonderful Saladroasted chicken, mixed greens, cilantro, pistachios, and slices of mandarin in a blue cheese vinaigrettesells for $3. The sentimental ones stay away. He needs every drop he can get., Dont you know? A minute later, I reconnect with the pipeline and pursue its length for a football field. Business got so brisk that he bought two trucks and hired crews. A large water pipeline being built near Lemoore in Kings County is raising eyebrows as much for its possible uses as for the name associated with its construction John Vidovich. Making hundreds of millions of dollars in the process?. He went out and bought an alarm company. The Boswell comments are in a letter sent from the El Rico GSA, while Vidovich's concerns are outlined in a letter from the Southwest Kings GSA.. He grew up in New Jersey, where his father ran a bar. It takes a lot of work to get ahead. She and Manuel were able to buy their trailer several years ago. If I want to know more, I need to talk to Lupes brother, Gustavo, who has worked as an irrigator at Wonderful for five years and knows what the company is planning for the future. I saw her a few months ago. Its the beginning of September 2016, and battalions of heavy machinery dispatched from the Wonderful equipment yards pound the ground and rattle the trees. As in most significant projects, there will be public hearings to review the proposed project's impacts. But inside he had these weaknesses. Arax: They lose their livelihood. Typically, each pound sells wholesale for $3.75. In one orchard, half the trees are dying., I had traveled the fields of Wonderful from one end of western Kern to the other, looking for dying trees. When the next shift ends, he tells me, the gym will fill up with workers looking to win the cash bonuses from the companys GetFit program. "The city will be issuing a response to the feedlot proposal," said Lemoore City Manager Nathan Olson. He doesnt know about the pipeline. I walk into the supermarket El Toro Loco, and the clerk directs me to the back office, where a tobacco-chewing Yemeni named Anthony Hussein is sitting beneath a photograph of an uncle in his U.S. Army uniform. Whether he realizes it, hes part of the biggest pistachio harvest in history. You cant be exporting groundwater from one basin to another., Whatever water hes taking, its too little, too late.. The Ninth Annual Wonderful Pistachio Conference at the Visalia Convention Center is an invitation-only affair, but I managed to sneak in and grab a seat. Its vastness makes you feel safe and in jeopardy at the same time. My business approach right now is to acquire as much water as I can to be diversified in water. The load will translate into 18,000 pounds of finished nuts in a matter of days. The Wonderful Company is located in Californias Central Valley where droughts hit frequently, but that hasnt stopped the company from harvesting record crops. There are often laws binding it to a basin. Theres a lot happening in the world. Semitropic Water Storage District, in northwestern Kern, has raised a lot of eyebrows with its ambitious, some say audacious, Tulare Lake Storage and Floodwater Protection Project. The plastic unfurls across the grove like a giant roll of Saran Wrap. Twenty miles outside Fresno, I cross the Kings, the river that irrigates more farmland than any other river here. Sports and playground activities are prohibited at the beach, picnic areas are closed, and masks must be worn by all visitors. I ask him about his delivery of servicespruning, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer, waterthat can be calibrated and timed to enable the smallest unit to achieve maximum yield. Never mind that this is one of the most over-drafted basins in California or that the land is sinking a half-foot a year. Hes planting ground that no one has ever planted before. But she doesnt dictate this or that. Angelica would prefer not to get into the details of their financial arrangement. Join us for a free, virtual event for International Women's Day on March 8! "We have one of the premier colleges in the country, and they want to put a slaughterhouse right next to it? Looking back, he said he wouldnt make that sale today. Low 44F. She was a very frugal lady. I get out of the car and walk down an embankment. Vidovich says he uses that Angiola groundwater to farm in Dudley Ridge, so the groundwater isnt leaving its home basin. Keep it Courteous. Giant pincers manned by a single worker grab the tree by the throat and start shaking. Shoving aside the coins, they introduced a Scarlett OHara doll that, by itself, raked in $35 million in sales. The drought?. The men and women who planted, irrigated, sprayed, and picked our crops were phantoms. He was about my size, but he was very tough. He was in military intelligence and had a top secret clearance that involved gathering data and evaluating products they made, he said. Even so, Resnick says, he learned a lesson from the 2004 recall of 13 million pounds of the companys salmonella-tainted almonds: Dont fight the FDA. Ultimately,youre going to dry up that aquifer under the earth, and thats whats happening now. each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Now, Pace said, Vidovich will do the same thing on a larger scale by moving Kings and Tulare groundwater to Kern County. Or he can devise a scheme to steal water from a neighbor up the road. Back then, the Los Angeles Times had a bureau in the middle of California. He started buying consistently in Kern, Kings and Tulare counties throughout the early and mid-2000s and continues to add properties sometimes at a blistering pace. They point to three new pump stations along Angiolas main canal just north of the county line that have the ability to move 100,000 acre feet a year into pipes that head south and west. Because the more you invested in your employees and their communities, the more productive they became. The Iranians dont irrigate their trees. Its John Vidovich. Angiola was rehabbing old wells, drilling new ones and installed a large pipeline. I leave Gabbys and follow a winding concrete path through the new Wonderful Park. I follow him inside to a long line of workers that ends at a plastic window where Hussein sits on the other side, working the cash register like a teller at a race track.