Pistachio prices skyrocket after California crop disaster

Pistachio lovers may soon be paying the price for California’s scorching spring.The beloved green nut — already having a major moment among Gen Zers thanks to viral Dubai chocolate bars, cream pastries, frozen yogurt and trendy lattes — is facing a bitter harvest after record-breaking heat devastated farms across the Golden State.California pistachio growers are staring down hundreds of millions of dollars in losses after extreme temperatures disrupted pollination and damaged crops across the San Joaquin Valley, one of the country’s biggest pistachio-growing regions.And shoppers could soon feel the pain at the checkout aisle.Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds, the world’s largest pistachio grower, warned that prices will rise as the industry absorbs the hit — though the company said it’s trying to keep the increase from going nuts.“This is a measured adjustment to maintain stability across the category while supporting growers behind it,” Michael Hohmann, chief financial officer and executive vice president of Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds, said in a press release this week. “The price that consumers are going to see will not be as significant as what the farmers will have lost.”The pistachio punch came courtesy of a brutal March heat wave, when temperatures across the San Joaquin Valley soared into the mid-90s and threw the crop’s delicate love story off track.Unlike many crops that rely on bees, pistachio trees get by with a little help from the wind — but this year, as per the Fresno Bee, the heat rushed the process. Male flowers sent pollen flying before their female counterparts were ready for their close-up, leaving farmers with fewer nuts to crack.“During critical points in pistachio bloom,” the extreme temperatures disrupted pollination and led to poor nut development, Kern County Assistant Agriculture Commissioner Cerise Montanio told SFGATE.The result? A shell shock for California’s pistachio industry.The heat wave di...