"Iran has a transportation advantage. There are lots of casualties in international conflicts but this one is nuts, you might say - although strictly speaking the pistachio is a seed. And with the two countries dominating so much of the global market, Iran isn't in dire need of a comeback. (Bloomberg Businessweek) -- Forty years of vicious geopolitical competition between the U.S. and Iran came close to open war in January, and it’s still too soon to call a winner—except in one field. There is a bigger issue here that goes beyond pistachios and water in California. Plus, new trees are slow to get established and can require a good bit of botanical engineering. Exporters also got hit. No doubt, the Resnicks will remain vigilant. Persia enjoyed a virtual monopoly on cultivating the hardy yet demanding pistachio tree for at least 1,000 years. Read about our approach to external linking. “Be mindful when having pistachios at a party,” goes a popular joke that’s been making the rounds in Tehran. Iran continues to be a leading producer and a significant exporter of the beloved nut. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. In 1971, the United States changed its tax codes to eliminate loopholes exploited by almond and citrus farmers, “setting off a rush to plant pistachios,” which had been left out of the new rules.One year later, the Shah of Iran mandated that “small packets of protein-rich pistachios be given to schoolchildren … Iran-US Pistachio War! The pistachio industry in Iran dates back thousands of years. It’s hard to see a way back without a massive change in policy approach. Of more than 70,000 hectares (170,000 acres) of farm land alloted for pistachio growing in the northwest, a quarter has been damaged by war, said Hassan Ibrahim, director of the ministry’s pistachio department. mouthpiece Stephen Colbert (above) to promote pistachios and war on Iran Not being told to the Americanpeople by their leftist mainstream propaganda media establishment as to how their nation is able to be manipulated into war by Hillary Clintonand Democrat Partyaligned multi-billionaires like Stewart and Lynda Resnick, Mahmoud said that on his farm, “some tree branches had withered, and there were trenches and landmines scattered all around”. After a brief respite that followed the signing of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, sanctions reimposed by the Trump administration tanked the Iranian economy and caused a massive devaluation of the Iranian rial. Add to that improvements in irrigation and other technologies, and average U.S. yields have tripled to more than 3.5 metric tons of in-shell pistachio nuts per hectare, from just over 1 ton in 1980, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. Iranian pistachios are simply not welcome in the US. Join our. A plan to build a canal to Kerman, similar to one that brings water from the Sacramento River to the farms of Central California, never materialized. Relentless breeding of stronger rootstocks means U.S. pistachio saplings can grow to fruition in 4 years, rather than 7 to 10. It wasn't just Iranian oil that came flowing back onto the international market, pistachio exports began gaining overseas markets. The move passes responsibility to the US Congress to evaluate and determine whether it believes Iran is compliant with the terms and if the US should remain in the deal. With yields as high as 5 metric tons per hectare in the U.S. last year, and a wholesale price of about $9 per kilo, that’s a potential $4.5 billion pistachio nut export business for Georgia in good times, if it were to devote all that land to what Iranians call “green gold.”. The state grid finally connected the $200,000 electrical infrastructure he built for the farm. Harvests boomed, even through the chaos of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Asked where he’d go next if Georgia doesn’t work out, Ravari says: “Australia!’’ —With Farah Elbahrawy, Arsalan Shahla, and Helena Bedwell, To contact the editor responsible for this story: Howard Chua-Eoan at hchuaeoan@bloomberg.net. The boom in commercial pistachio cultivation came after the US severed ties with Iran following the 1979 hostage crisis, after which the US and its allies placed sanctions on Iran. “We have almost 800-year-old trees in protected areas not far from the Aric farm, which are wild pistachios,” Georgia’s Agriculture Minister Levan Davitashvili says, referring to Ravari’s company, Aric Group. The Iranian industry’s biggest problems are homegrown, according to Kaveh Madani, who briefly served as deputy minister for the environment from 2017 to 2018, before being driven out by conservatives in the regime who took exception to his ideas. Pistachio war spreads to Tulare County -June 19,2020-Wonderful Company threatens legal action over Terra Bella facility. The year the music stopped. Then there’s the pollen. Ravari knows these hurdles better than most. Catching up took a while, and picking the one moment of victory is hard, as pistachio harvests can be volatile, alternating between fat and lean years. The government agreed to partially fund construction of vast greenhouses on 20 hectares of his land to raise pistachio and other nut tree seedlings for sale across Georgia and the wider region. That, in turn, stoked inflation to the point that domestic demand collapsed. About 90% of Iran’s water consumption goes to agriculture, with 52% of that drawn from wells that rely on declining rainfall for replenishment. Share on LinkedIn Share on Reddit Share on Google+ E-mail Share on Twitter Share on WhatsApp. VideoMars landings that did (and didn't) go to plan, North to South: The new life of a Korean defector. Because it’s carried on the wind, rather than by insects, pistachio trees have to be planted in blocks, with a single male at the center of as many as 25 females. Iran and US facing 'pistachio war' (China Daily) Updated: 2008-10-10 07:45 A worker sorts pistachio nuts during a final inspection before packing at a … Pruning scissors in hand, Syrian pistachio farmer Fadi al-Mahmoud inspected his orchard, hoping for his first harvest after years of war, … But from 2004 to 2009, the Islamic Republic still accounted for 40% of global production on average, followed by the U.S. at 33%. By contrast, pistachio farming in the US started in the 1930s with Persian seeds. Catching up took a while, and picking the one moment of victory is hard, as pistachio harvests can be volatile, alternating between fat and lean years. The dearth of harvests has led to a kind of despair. Indian pistachio imports have changed dramatically over the past few years. Harvests boomed, even through the chaos of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. The US and Iran dominate the world's trade in pistachios - collectively controlling between 70% and 80% of yearly output for the last decade. For sure, growing pistachios is a tricky business. (Bloomberg Businessweek) -- Forty years of vicious geopolitical competition between the U.S. and Iran came close to open war in January, and it’s still too soon to call a winner—except in one field. In October he decertified the agreement. The seed he brought back is the mother of all the pistachio trees now grown in California. This pistachio -trade war is the subject of a forthcoming documentary from journalist Yasha Levine and filmmaker Roman Wernham. Italy’s Vivai Piante Battistini Societa’ Agricola S.S. is in talks to stock the nurseries, says Giuliano Drodi, the company’s director general. The global pistachio industry is a multi-billion dollar a year sector that is continuing to grow in value as its popularity as a foodstuff grows. And though far from a thirsty crop relative to their value, pistachios do require water—11,363 cubic meters per ton of nuts, according to one study. The tankers, one Japanese, the other Norwegian, were attacked on Thursday, and the Trump administration immediately blamed Iran, claiming intelligence supporting the … High crop yields require investment in modern drip-feed irrigation systems, efficient water management, and good governance—a rare combination anywhere, let alone in the Middle East. Iranian yields started in about the same place but never improved. Giving pistachio farmers more access to land and water was a core offer of the 1979 revolution, and the country’s new ruling class—in particular the family of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani—saw the hard currency potential. “There is quite an interest in new countries, like Georgia, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan, where we are also doing a project,” says Pino Calcagni, the council’s vice chairman and chief executive officer of Besana Group, a nut-trading company based in Italy. Shutting down the more than 400,000 unlicensed wells that farmers have drilled is politically unpalatable. It took California’s pistachio pioneers close to 30 years of experimentation to create a plant—named the Kerman, after the dominant pistachio province in Iran—ideally suited to conditions in the state. Yasha Levine is raising funds for Pistachio Wars: Killing California for a Snack Food on Kickstarter! But Iran has another advantage that helps it in global trade - its location. Although pistachios themselves were not on the list of sanctioned products, restrictions on global banking made trade difficult for Iranian farmers. For Iran's pistachio industry the threat of losing the deal and reinstating sanctions could mean the return of what Hojat Hassani Sadi, deputy director of the Iran Pistachio Association calls "unfair and unequal competition". The country devoted ever more land to growing the fatty green nut and replaced the ancient Qanat system of subsoil canals that fed the crop with higher-volume water pumps. Pistachios are mentioned in the Old Testament(Genesis 43:11). Nowadays, the resulting pistachio war serves as a microcosm for the US’s relations with both Iran and China. [7] The modern pistachio P. vera was first cultivated in Bronze Age Central Asia, where the earliest example is from Djarkutan , modern Uzbekistan . In Persia(Modern day Iran), pistachio trade and ownership of pistachio groves meant riches and high status. [4] [5] [6] Archaeology shows that pistachio seeds were a common food as early as 6750 BCE. During that time the US market expanded, with farmers - mainly across California - planting the crop. Trump: McConnell is 'dour political hack', In freezing US, Biden seeks to cool down politics, 'Beaten and jailed for being a labour activist', Mars landings that did (and didn't) go to plan. Pistachios have always been a desired delicacy in this region. The global pistachio industry is a … Pointing to a tree with markedly different leaves on either side, he proudly says it combines Californian and Iranian strains on a Georgian root. The duties and bans have accompanied broader economic sanctions that restricted the financing available to Iran for investment, whether in agriculture or oil and gas. The United States and Iran have pioneered the production of pistachios in the world, followed by Turkey and Syria. The U.S.-Iran Pistachio War Is Heating Up February 26, 2020 Daily News Industry News Forty years of vicious geopolitical competition between the U.S. and Iran came close to open war in January, and it’s still too soon to call a winner-except in one field. Can Iran fight back in the pistachio war? The biggest California pistachio farms are multibillion-dollar enterprises that lobby powerfully for restrictions on their chief competitor. According to Mr Sadi it is the "major obstacle to growth" for his industry. Even if it had, it’s likely that no canal could solve Iran’s problems, which are mainly about governance: More water would encourage the cultivation of more land, more production, and more strain on the water supply. Between 2008 and 2013 Chinese imports of US pistachios rose 146% according to APG. The trees need hot summers for their nuts to fully grow and ripen, and cool winters so the trees can fall dormant and rest—1,000 hours per year at 7C (about 45F) or below, according to one study by California agricultural scientists. Still, “God created only two paradises, California and Georgia,” Ravari says as he tours his immaculate vineyards and pistachio plantations at the wheel of a Toyota Land Cruiser. © 2021 BBC. Harvests boomed, even through the chaos of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Besana Group is developing new suppliers in Kazakhstan, Romania, and Ukraine. Iran wins ‘pistachio war’ with US. All that changed in 2016 following the Iran nuclear deal, officially The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It’s been hard going, though. Yet the U.S., which started to produce pistachios only in 1976, has now overtaken Iran as the world’s leading producer. That’s more than four times as much as a ton of wheat, maize, or rice. The U.S. industry has proved more resilient to climate challenges; American farms have invested more, and their water supply—for now at least—is more certain. Read about our approach to external linking. BBC Travel: The US' last wild frontier town? Climate change played an even bigger role. The advantages and disadvantages for Iran are not only linked to sanctions. The international pistachio trade has faced unexpected headwinds due to the tensions between Iran and the US. Locals who took umbrage at a foreigner buying so much land poured sugar into the gas tank of the fire truck he brought over from Dubai. The most important producers of pistachios 2020. Once the largest lake in the Middle East, Urmia is now a tenth of its former size. President Trump said in the speech announcing his decision that the agreement "threw Iran's dictatorship a political and economic lifeline," but had failed to prevent Iran's "sprint" towards nuclear weapon development. The price of pistachios has been on the rise since 2002. Iran chamber of commerce official expounds on pistachio production. The pilot succeeded, dramatically raising yields, Ravari says. Still, Madani says, “you could argue that for a system capable of attacking an American air base with its home-produced missiles after decades of sanctions, managing water and developing irrigation systems should be a piece of cake.”. Outside Iran, pistachio farmers are hunting for virgin territories to fill a global shortage the International Nut & Dried Fruit Council, a Spain-based trade association, estimates at 10% to 15% of demand. TEHRAN: Global pistachio market is dominated by Iran and the United States who are in stiff competition to gain a bigger share of the market, said the head of Iran Pistachio Association today. “There’s not much we can do about it.”. "The industry has been pushing the products with advertising," he says, adding that middle-class demand in developing markets has also boosted exports. In 2003 he was invited back to produce a report on developing Iran’s rural areas. By Douglas V. Gibbs Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host I t seems we may be inching closer to war with Iran as the war of words regarding two oil tankers has increased to a deafening scream. Ravari first had to dig a vast ditch and an earth rampart around his 2,600-hectare farm, to keep out sheep, cattle, and wild pigs. A catastrophic 2018-19 season briefly pulled Iran’s share as low as 7%. Catching up took a while, and picking the one moment of victory is hard, as pistachio harvests can be volatile, alternating between fat and lean years. But in 2014. hot and dry weather conditions across the western US cost the industry nearly half its crop and cut profits for 2015 - the year those nuts were sold - by close to $1.4bn (£1bn). A strong growing year in 2016 has helped the US market recover and led to a moderation in price. But the 2014 drought saw the price of California's nuts rocket from $3/lb (453g) to over $5/lb. The US also imposes a 241% tariff on Iranian pistachios meaning even without sanctions the US market has been all but cut off for Iran. Afzal Ravari, a Dubai-based businessman who made his money selling forensics gear to Gulf police forces, is among the pioneers. But for the growing number of pistachio fans around the world increased access to Iran's pistachio exports and decreasing prices would be a sweet outcome. Sanctions made insuring Iranian cargoes more expensive, while the government decreed that all sales made in foreign currencies should be done via the central bank, which takes a percentage. Do the math, Ravari says. That progress could face challenges though. The sequel to Heaven's Gate, but with more rollerskating. Sinkholes have opened as soil collapses into the fallen water table. The great pistachio war began—unintentionally—fifty years ago. He looked at Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan first, before settling on Georgia for its looser business climate, 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of suitable land, and rivers that flow from the Caucasus Mountains, snow-capped peaks higher than the Alps or Rockies. “The host will be keeping track of every single one guests eat.” Entire pistachio groves have bleached and died for lack of water as overtaxed wells dry out. The federal agency agreed that Iran’s pistachio prices would pose a threat to local production and imposed a special import duty of just over 214 percent on unshelled Iranian pistachios. Spain, China, and Australia—at least until the recent fires—have all been expanding production, too. Pistachio Wars seeks to investigate how the Resnicks “have been responsible for both making the pistachio into a ubiquitous snack food in the U.S. while also eating away at Iran’s … By Zoe ThomasBBC Business reporter, New York. 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(Turkish pistachios, for example, are a different variety.). In the reductionist language of President Trump, Iran lost big. Iran claims its pistachios have a better taste, as do several large European distributors, though the US and Iran mainly grow the same strain. They can certainly take markets away and China is an example of that," says Mr Matoian. More from the BBC's series taking an international perspective on trade: Increased demand in China has been key to sector growth. The pistachio tree is native to regions of Central Asia, including present-day Iran and Afghanistan. We combine Bloomberg’s global leadership in business and financial news and data, with Quintillion Media’s deep expertise in the Indian market and digital news delivery, to provide high quality business news, insights and trends for India’s sophisticated audiences. By. And that’s where we are today: not only are American pistachio farmers destroying California, but they are willing to risk war in Iran and the Middle East — all in order to boost and protect their lucrative pistachio business. Iran ousted the US as the leading producer of pistachio nuts last year and reclaimed the position which it has long held… Continue April 15, 2015. Output is recovering after heavy rains, he says, but the crop is substandard and the future clouded. Mars landings that did (and didn't) go to plan. By 2014-19, those positions were reversed: 47% of the global total came from the U.S., and 27% from Iran. In an ongoing “pistachio war, Iran faces a fierce competition from the United States which plans to quadruple production by 2020. Missing BloombergQuint's WhatsApp service? Catching up took a while, and picking the one moment of victory is hard, as pistachio harvests can be volatile, alternating between fat and lean years. The United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran) are the global leaders in the production and cultivation of pistachios. That collapse had a big impact within Iran, where pistachio nuts aren’t just a $1 billion-plus export earner but a key ingredient in the national cuisine, an accessible luxury, and a point of national pride. Pistachio History and Origins: Pistachio trees have grown in the Middle East for thousands of years. pistachio Wars seeks to investigate how the Resnicks “have been responsible for both making the pistachio into a ubiquitous snack food in the U.S. while also eating away at Iran’s global marketshare,” per a profile in Bourse and Bazaar. Globally, pistachio prices rose, but for Iran's growers it was also an opportunity. Economy. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter. Yet the U.S., which started to produce pistachios only in 1976, has now overtaken Iran as the world’s leading producer. 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. I was thinking more Heaven Can Wait but with more twerking Rams. The hydraulic picture symbolizes a wider crisis for Iran that Environment Minister Isa Kalantari once described as a greater threat to the Islamic Republic than either Israel or the U.S. Ravari, who says he was “born under a pistachio tree” in Kerman province, was among the leftist revolutionaries who fought the Shah’s regime before 1979 and then emigrated as they were pushed aside by the new Islamist regime. Yet the U.S., which started to produce pistachios only in 1976, has now overtaken Iran as the world’s leading producer. Rather than penalize illegal drilling, the government has issued two blanket amnesties for unlicensed wells. The Republic of Turkey. Iran's pistachio sector is second in the world following the strong 2016 season in the US. U.S.-Iran Pistachio War (Podcast) February 24, 2020 — 9:25 PM UTC . Since 1979 the U.S. has switched from banning imports of Iranian pistachios outright to imposing punitive import duties of just over 241% and back again to banning them. On a recent visit, tens of thousands of pistachio seedlings were dying in their pots, because Ravari lacked the means to plant and tend them. Are these the best job perks in the world? The federal agency agreed that Iran’s pistachio prices would pose a threat to local production and imposed a special import duty of just over 214 percent on unshelled Iranian pistachios. US President Donald Trump called the agreement created under his predecessor the "worst" deal the US has ever made. News Desk - Monday, December 10, 2018 3:27 pm. Enroute to America The original homelands of the pistachio were Asia Minor (now Turkey), Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and a bit north to the Caucasus in southern Russia and Afghanistan. US pistachio imports to India in 2019 reached 16.6 million pounds (1,500 tons per week) Last year, it was only ۹ 6.9 million (3,118 tonnes) Meanwhile, the situation of Iranian pistachio exports to India has not been very good That’s more shocking than it sounds. If the winter is too warm, the crop suffers in the spring. Graham breaks down a documentary about the Resnicks plan to start war for farming profit. This agreement with the US and its allies removed sanctions. In the Nutsellers’ Hall of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, a prominent pistachio trader who gives his name only as Mahdi says the recent collapse in production largely resulted from four consecutive years of drought. The government helped him secure public lands that would have split his holding, but a promised 17-kilometer-long road to bring in labor never got built. Geopolitics offer one explanation for Iran’s relative decline. The problem for the world’s most expensive spice, UN to raise Princess Latifa case with UAE. “Winters are not cold enough for pistachio crops, and summers are too hot,” says Mohammed Salehi, chairman of the board of the Iranian Pistachio Association. Harvests boomed, even through the chaos of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Even in California, the sale of groundwater rights to the state’s biggest farms has raised questions of fairness and sustainability, while climate change is warming the cool foggy winters that made the state perfect for pistachios. Yet the U.S., which started to produce pistachios only in 1976, has now overtaken Iran as the world’s leading producer. The 13-volume study took three years to write, according to Ravari, the last of which he spent living among poor ethnic Turkmen wheat farmers, in a pilot project to test the proposals the study came up with. Turns out that a bit of luck — the second-largest producer, Iran, had a bad crop — coupled with China’s big appetite for pistachios, sustained demand, price threat and all. In markets like China, they were able to undercut American prices by close to $0.20/lb. Richard Matoian, executive director of the American Pistachio Growers (APG) trade association, attributes this to increased awareness of their health properties and global demand for healthy snacks. The hanging gardens of Babylon were said to have contained pistachio trees Over the next several decades, even in countries where Iranian pistachios were welcomed, restrictions on its companies' ability to access international financing made it hard for the industry to flourish. And things have been looking up since December. Sid_6.7: FrancoFile: "The Pistachio War" sounds like either a bad Marvel sequel or an arty Robert Redford movie. Pistachios have been a part of California’s diverse plantings since 1929, when the Chico New Plant Introduction Station sent William E. Whitehouse, a deciduous tree researcher to Iran to collect pistachio seeds for planting. By contrast Iran's pistachio yield that year was strong. The detention of the daughter of Dubai's ruler was also described as "deeply troubling" by the UK. But like Madani, his ideas struck resistance and he was put on a plane out of the country. American farmers have deposed Iran as king of the global pistachio industry, benefiting from U.S. policies hostile to Tehran, climate change, and egregious failures of economic and water management that have sucked the Islamic Republic’s lakes and aquifers dry. The country is unlikely ever to recover its pistachio crown, spawning a race among other producers to grow the nut and fill the gap created by its defeat. Bloomberg | Quint is a multiplatform, Indian business and financial news company. Ravari estimates he’s spent over 1 million Georgian lari ($350,000) so far on an outdoor laboratory where he grafts species together by slashing roots and jamming branches into the wounds to grow. The bigger problem, according to Madani, who now teaches at Yale’s MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, has been the persistent failure to enforce regulations designed to protect the aquifers that feed Kerman’s pistachio groves. A report in the Iran Daily newspaper in June said the United States tried “to improve its position in the global war of pistachio production and export by undermining Iranian … Of course, given the war situation in Syria, the statistics of this country are not very reliable. A highly original documentary project reveals how a couple of Beverly Hills billionaires “are willing to risk war in Iran and the Middle East — all in order to boost and protect their lucrative pistachio business.” hree years ago, journalist Yasha Levine and filmmaker Rowan Wernham first arrived at the vast pistachio plantation of Stewart and … Over the last forty years, Iran's growers have faced pressures from sanctions, tariffs and restrictions on their ability to access international financial tools. Water shortages are another problem for Iran.
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