Criminals impersonating shipping companies are stealing millions of dollars worth of California’s high-priced nuts, says The Christian Science Monitor. With a truckload of pistachios worth as much as $500,000, “plaid-collar theft” is a serious threat for California farmers already struggling with drought.
“These “fictitious pickups” make up 5 percent of the nation’s cargo thefts, but the ploy seems to have increased in recent years, Capital Press reported. “This type of organized crime has cost California’s nut sector, which was valued at roughly $9.3 billion in 2014, almost $7.6 million during the past four years,” according to the Monitor.
Nut companies are ramping up security, and the state legislature is discussing plans to develop a task force specifically to deal with cargo theft. In California, nuts are serious business. The state produces 80 percent of the world supply of almonds and 99 percent of the pistachios sold in the U.S. Both are lucrative crops, but also thirsty ones. It takes 1.1 gallons of water to grow a single almond, says Mother Jones, and slightly less, 0.75 gallons, to grow a pistachio.