Thats why he built the pipeline. The land is turning to salt. Everything about our physical selves, Lynda believes, begins in our guts. Taxpayers support the continued production of such commodities, at least in theory, through direct payments to farmers amounting to $5 billion last year under the direction of the farm bill. This is a magnitude of intervention that no other agricultural company in California has ever attempted. A few weeks later, I found myself riding up the elevator of a high-rise on the Westside of Los Angeles. It was Lynda who came up with the idea of flowers-in-a-gift. Roses are short-lived, she reasoned, but the teapot or watering can that the flowers arrive in is a keepsake. None of the sales taxes go to City Hall because Lost Hills isnt a city. I didnt know good land from bad land. Its artificiality had achieved a permanence; its permanence had created my California. The July sun is a scorcher, and I fuss with the dial on the AC long enough to blow past the towns one stoplight and the aqueduct, too. Just ahead I can see the last section of pipe throwing a cascade of white water into a main canal belonging to the Lost Hills Water District. It was good for the bottom line. The Tulare Lake Canal Company, controlled by JG Boswell Company, moved the equipment onto . Look, I have no guilt. The river is nothing if not fickle. I would have worn my Levis, he says, but Lyndas here, and she thinks I dress like a bum. Were standing in the sun outside the plants corporate office, a building whose clean lines and retro furniture wear the imprint of Lynda, too. Stewart refers to the occasional trek between Lost Hills and Beverly Hillsroughly 140 milesas a carpetbaggers distance. It seems even longer, he says, if you add in the psychological distance of being an East Coast Jew in a California farm belt where Jews are few and far between. He purchased his first 640-acre section in the late 1970s and kept adding more sections of almonds, pistachios, pomegranates, and citrus until he stretched the lines of agriculture like no Californian before him. The curriculum is being created by Noemi Donoso, the chief of education for the Chicago public schools before Lynda recruited her to Wonderful. He guides me back into the main store with its displays of fresh fruit and vegetables, meats, cold cuts, and baked goods. Surely, no one does this better than Wonderful? Then it hits me. "There are a lot of unintended consequences in agricultural policies, (but) the intent is to maintain a viable and healthy agricultural base," he said. But that money enabled me to go into Angiola (a water district in Tulare County) and have other water sources.. The city of Los Angeles, by comparison, consumes 587,000 acre-feet. He bought 20,000 acres in the Tulare Lake basinland that not even Boswell dared farm. All this stirring up is a consequence of mechanization. In the maroon of sundown,I follow the workers back to Lost Hills. He made friends everywhere he went, John Vidovich told the Mercury News in 2007. No way, according to Vidovich and his longtime associates. Scott: How sustainable is this operation given that California only recently came out of a long drought and may actually be headed there again soon? Vidovich made an offer on the land and Page took it. Along a fan of the Kings River, a raisin farmer in Selma shows me his well thats coughing up sand. Two strains of salmonella found in their pistachios had caused a multistate outbreak of illnesses. Arrayed before him were small bowls of almonds, pistachios, and easy-to-peel mandarins, a plate of ground white turkey meat cooked in olive oil, and a glass of pomegranate juice. John Vidovich. He was a small, trim man, no more than 5 foot 5, in his early 70s with thinning silver hair and brown eyes rimmed in pink. The Kings is as erratic a river as the Kern so floodwaters are unpredictable. Add onion, garlic, and bell pepper to the pot; cook, stirring constantly, until onion has . Observers worry that Vidovich plans to pump Kings and Tulare counties dry, park that water in Kern County and then sell it to the highest bidder in dry years, leaving a once-thriving farm district barren. The highway runs two lanes here, three lanes there, through miles of agriculture broken every 20 minutes by fast food, gas station, and cheap motel. The independent growers and processors, no surprise, regarded him as a bully eager to employ teams of lawyers and tens of millions of dollars to force his agenda. I try again to pin him down, but hes a man who likes to think of himself as wily. The sellers include farmers in the Tulare Lake basin who are pumping so much water out of the ground that the levees protecting the town of Corcoran are sinking, not by inches but by feet. He emptied the sky of tens of millions of geese and drained the 800 square miles of Tulare Lake dry. It moves in a wave from trunk to limb to nut and back down to earth. He isnt farming dirt. John Vidovich, ultimately, followed in his fathers footsteps after obtaining a law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law. Second, Im a farmer, Vidovich says. Floodwater is considered a nuisance, a menace even. A good deal of sunshine. Thats all fine and good, Resnick replied, but what about the $1 million-plus hed spent on lawyers fees? But inside he had these weaknesses. Nearly $365 million worth of Wonderful almonds will have dropped down from the dry sky. One of the neighbors watched in disgust as the bulldozers tore into the hillside. His ego had gotten the best of him, he conceded. Rather, it is the authority vested in Wonderful that counts. The state of California has adopted a new law that finally regulates the pumping. Unlike many other billionaires, they could poke fun at themselves. He and his forebears from Georgia had dried up Tulare Lake, the biggest body of freshwater this side of the Mississippi, and planted 100,000 acres of cotton outside the town of Corcoran. On the day the trees fall quietly upon the orchard floor, no one is here but the Mexican on his tractor. He is a single man who rents a bedroom from other family members for $150 a month. The water is filtered for arsenic, boron, and other salts, and the monthly tests show no violation of state or federal standards. She wanted me to put our $5 million in an account, draw interest, and we could live happily on the 50 grand a year.. This was Lost Hills before Lynda got involved. At one point, he was moving nearly 30,000 acre feet a year, according to Angiolas records. Thanks to Wonderfuls $15 million Get Crackin campaignthe largest media buy in the history of snack nutspistachios now rank among the top ten bestselling salty snack items in the U.S. We are no longer processing nuts, he says. The front gates of the 25,000-square-foot Beaux Arts mansion on Sunset Boulevard magically opened without a guard giving a nod. Developer, farmer and water trader John Vidovich plans to build a beef feedlot and processing plant near Lemoore according to a preliminary application filed with the county. The city sued. It is the ditch up the road, the one that carries no water, that is filled with old mattresses and spent appliances. The juice isnt selling like it used to. He needs every drop he can get., Dont you know? Your weekly print newspaper delivered, and more, Weekly Print Edition delivered to your mailbox, When you don't want the printed newspaper. Once, he came home from school and discovered the family car gone. The believer and the skeptic do their tussle inside my head. Hes never driven a tractor or opened an irrigation valve. Past Delano and the first vineyards that Cesar Chavez marched against. Its the summer of 2016, eight weeks before the big pick, and Im zigzagging across the almonds and pistachios, square mile after square mile of immaculate orchards lined with micro-irrigation systems and heavy with nuts. Lost Hills sits on an upslope. Menu. Posted on August 6, 2018 Bakersfield Californian. He used to work for the Resnicks before Stewart put him in charge of the district. Kings Officials Unhappy About Water Proposal, Local Water Guys Eyeing Kings River Flood Water. He certainly looks the part in his well-worn jeans and checkered shirts. How much water are we talking about?, Id rather not get too specific. Pace gave a nod to Vidovich on that count. I park the car and walk across the barren rows. But most of this water has been spent by the Resnicks and other account holders in years two, three, and four of the drought. He tells me to meet him in Lost Hills. He studied the situation. City of Sunnyvale NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING. Documentary film. Only after the media were alerted did Stewart and Lynda claim to have discovered the clear-cutting. Stephen Vidovich retired but kept a watchful eye on the company, getting daily reports and giving advice, John Vidovich told the San Jose Mercury News after his father's death. See Also: Stew Recipes, Spanish Recipes Show details. Hes trying to play dumb, but I can see the sliest of grins peeking out from his mustache and goatee. Of the 22,000 acres they ripped during the drought, 18,000 acres are being replanted in pistachios. Too many pistachios. So so sleepy, says another. Vidovich didnt have to wait long for a buyer to come calling. Buttonwillow, California Search Background Check John Vidovich was associated with Sandridge Partners, L.P. between 2018 and 2021. Its been more than a year since the grand opening, and theyre still operating in the red. What? Its a $500 million project, of which Semitropic is hoping to get $250 million from Proposition 1 funding. Making hundreds of millions of dollars in the process?. You cant be exporting groundwater from one basin to another., Whatever water hes taking, its too little, too late.. Yes. I feel his gaze going past me, his voice turning oddly sentimental. Yes, locals have a bad taste in their mouths from Vidovichs water moves, I was told by several people, many of whom said they were too afraid of retaliation to use their names. From a safe, Ellsberg had lifted the Pentagon Papers, the secret history of how successive presidents lied to the public to cover up the failings of the Vietnam War. "What I was most alarmed about was how I, and most people in the area, knew nothing of this proposal," he told The Leader. But theres no denying his desperation. The more water he got, the more crops he planted, and the more crops he planted, the more water he needed to plant more crops, and on and on. Each tree produces 22 pounds of nuts. Get an email notification whenever someone contributes to the discussion. The new plantings arent cotton, alfalfa, or carrotsthe crops a farmer can decide not to seed when water becomes scarce. This doesnt count the 21,000 acres of grapefruits and limes hes growing in Texas and Mexico. But western Kern has no groundwater to draw from. Stewart gambled and won for many years. Compare and book now! I get it. In a region of wall-to-wall plantings, one of the walls is crashing down. matt scharff golf net worth; how did iruka die; does albert die in 911. west potomac high school death; john vidovich documentary; is bayville beach open to the public? This water basically came from a land owned by someone who's also a near billionaire a guy named John Vidovich. We pile back into the van and head up the road. The State Water Project, for the first time in six years, delivers surplus flows. He recalled bidding on a construction project while studying for the bar exam. So everybody should have it, right? Young men and women from Teach for America will do their two-year stints at the complex and live in village housing. The latest water fight between two of the San Joaquin Valley's largest growers will continue with heavy equipment intended to block a pipeline project allowed to remain on the banks of the Tulare Lake Canal in Kings County. Hes carrying 55,000 pounds of crop in two swaggering trailers open to the sun. He had spent the morning on his exercise bike reading Fortune. He was the bad guy in agriculture for no bigger offense than that he was big. It cant be farmed like it was, he says. Rethink Your Drink is the latest slogan. ! it says. They plaintiffs' lawyers argued that Vidovich pursued the McCarthy water to offset the $73 million sell-off, even though he knew that it was already spoken for. Lost Hills finally has something to be proud about. He had none of his fathers sentimentality. In December, Vidovich filed an application with the Kings County Planning Department for a slaughterhouse and a feedlot for up to 12,500 animals. When the Depression struck, his parents migrated to Middlebush, New Jersey, where they bought a few trucks and peddled coffee and pots and pans. I stand over the pipes and give them a hard slap. Vidovich freely admits that most of his land is for water rights. Later, Page would run for and win a seat on the Kern County Water Agency board. Twenty miles outside Fresno, I cross the Kings, the river that irrigates more farmland than any other river here. So far, Lynda has shown only patience. Giant pincers manned by a single worker grab the tree by the throat and start shaking. When a copy found its way to The New York Times, Lynda was pursued by federal prosecutors until they concluded she was more dilettante than radical. Your account number is your one-line street address as printed on your newspaper use normal capitalization. He came to California in the 1950s to remake himself. They were hardly the first rich people to use patronage to try to wheedle a citizenry toward their idea of a better life. She won a gold Effie, advertisings Oscar. If they were farmers, they were farmers who hung out with Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, David Geffen, Warren Beatty, and Joan Didion. Im actually not supposed to talk about it.. I didnt see our creation, much less the figures bent under the canopies of vine that our creation counted on. When Resnick plants, he plants his trees wall to wall. Hes planting ground that no one has ever planted before. Down a rutted road, 100 trailers with foundations dressed in plywood back up against an orchard. Some of them have paid $12,000 to buy their trailers and spent thousands more to fix them up. why teaching is challenging yet rewarding I know I cant do this forever, he says. 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. They have no way to grasp the $50 million to $80 million a year that the Resnicks say they are spending on philanthropy. When I tell her my name, she whispers into his ear. But his egotheres no controlling that., Resnick had heard it all before. United States Bureau of Land Management Tract Books, 1800-c. 1955 But not even the two projects working in perfect tandem can defy drought. Vidovoch's New Kings County Water Pipeline Triggers Alarm Bells - GV Wire Her brother-in-law was killed recently in a car crash along Highway 46. How come?, We dont need it anymore, he whispers., Back at the plant, Lynda is meeting with Wonderful doctors, nurses, and farmworkers. Eli Lilly announced a cap on insulin costs. And then they pump more groundwater. Its going to be what its going to be. No luck. No picking of crop agitates the earth like the picking of almonds and pistachios. Vidovich, he said, is just the new water baron on the block, thats all. We want good groundwater, too., You mean no more pipelines carrying water in the dead of night?, The pipeline. He stammers a bit. Preview. These are donations from other farmworker families, but theyre not for her and Manuel and the kids. High 53F. A husband and wife sharing the reins is rare for corporate America, rarer still for industrial agriculture. So were seeing a shift now and then to have nature imposing its will on the situation. What market share has been lost in Asia and the Middle East, the company is looking to get back in Mexico with its spicy Latin line of nuts. They made a new plantation here. He had left for the cornfields a few minutes before the killings.. 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. Proposition 1 is a $7 billion bond passed in 2014 that would pay for a host of projects from flood control to water quality. By then, Wonderful, if it still exists, will be a portfolio run by men even farther away than Beverly Hills. Lynda is making the trip on the company jet more often these days. It must have wounded all the more because she and Stewart thought of themselves as progressive Democrats. These trees are pruned by a machine that hedges one side and then the other, he says. Every last tree has been torn out of the ground. Though the project is billed as flood control, the agreement also allows Vidovich to move groundwater. My life is about California. One million acres of the valley floor, greater than the size of Rhode Island, are now covered in almond trees. Share with Us. This is how Resnick became a pistachio, almond, and pomegranate grower. Well still make money.. Before he left her to cross alone, he gave her soda, water, chips, and Cheetos. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Stewart Resnick is the biggest farmer in the United States, a fact he has tried to keep hidden while he has shaped what we eat, transformed Californias landscape, and ruled entire towns. Like the waters of the lake, the indent of the Resnicks will recede from the land, too. Instead of trying to sell the fruit as a piece of fruit, they squeezed its seeds into POMWonderful. 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. He doesnt know what pipeline means. All the new water pours into the delta, and what doesnt go out to sea fills up the aqueduct again. I kept my notes and tapes and waited for another day. They were pushing plates, costume jewelry, perfume, and model cars. 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. Hes a decent guy making $216,000 a year who doesnt pretend that he isnt beholden to Wonderful. For as far as I can see, the water in the canal runs inky through the orchards. How much bigger can agriculture get. The project is indeed within eyesight of Lemoore and across Highway 198, where West Hills College sits, and, also, where an approved 200-house subdivision is scheduled within walking range of the college. Too many almonds. I steer past Wasco to the dust-blowing orchards that flank Lost Hills, the densest planting of almonds, pistachios, and pomegranates on earth. San Antonio south doesnt exist anymore. He is a small, good-looking man with a patch of black hair under his lip. Theyre baby tumbleweeds that have come home. Somehow, it made its way to Lynda. A van pulls up to the curb, and the door slides open. He was semi-retired living in Clovis when another Kings County farmer, Pat McCarthy not Vidovich called him to do some work for Angiola. It gives me the luxury to keep on working. Chance of rain 40%. The growers would stand in front of the cull line and never stop moaning about how much of their fruit got rejected by Girazians graders. Fussing with one input or another, he can produce 3,500 pounds of nuts an acre. Wheres it coming from? On Oscar night, she handed out free samples to the stars at the Vanity Fair party. It hardly ceases for the next five months. They both knew what they wanted. She described commodity programs as making up less than 13 percent of the farm bill. Theyve (Vidovich and Hurley) been way out front on SGMA, Mitchell said. His frat brother got bored, as rich boys do, and Resnick bought out his half interest for $300. Since it is also true that Lost Hills has belonged to the Resnicks for 30 years, one of us might have blurted out, What took you so long to find it? As the film runs to credits, I can see that one credit is missing. Died on 26 Oct 2005. 650) 397-5213 with any questions or to learn more. Food and Beverage Manufacturing . It took time to gain the respect of the people, and I was afraid. Then he motions to Lynda, whos standing off to the side of the light-dimmed stage. The oil companies and insurance companies were looking to unload their farms in Kern County, Steir learned, chunks of earth that measured 20,000 and 40,000 acres. Im going to Kern County, just shy of the mountains, to figure out how the biggest farmers in America, led by the biggest of them all, are not only keeping alive their orchards and vineyards during drought but adding more almonds (79,000 acres), more pistachios (73,000 acres), more grapes (35,000 acres), and more mandarins (13,000 acres). Marketplace host Amy Scott spoke with Mark Arax, who wrote an articlein The California Sunday Magazine about the Wonderful Companys farming business and issues of sustainability in the Central Valley. Even if I were to move water and sell it, it would be to farming operations.. Now Lynda herself stands before us, a single light over her head. They planted the first 640 acres, half the pomegranates in the country at the time, knowing there was zero market. To top it off, the greedy SOB (farmers rarely uttered Vidovichs name) intended to keep his 7,000 acres of nut trees in Dudley Ridge. He says his bosses have been instructing him to cut the water each irrigation. Thats our goal. There are plans, crazy as it sounds, to take out 10,000 acres of almonds. Arax: That is the question that you know Im dealing with in this magazine piece. John, his oldest son, had served in the military as an intelligence officer and graduated from Santa Clara law school. He ran unsuccessfully for the Los Altos Hills City Council in 2006, served on the Santa Clara County Planning Commission and is former chairman of the Santa Clara County Republican Committee. Both men saw Hurleys involvement in numerous local districts including Angiola, Deer Creek Storm Water District, Green Valley Water District and the Tri-County Water Authority, a newly formed GSA, as more Vidovich control. Once each tree has been shaken, the nuts are left on the ground for a few days to dry. Hes dressed Italian chin to footLoro Piana jeans and Hogan tennis shoes. Wild salmon and all these sides made from scratch. They slap back with the cold vibration of water. To grow, Big Ag needed a bigger and more dependable supply. Plastic drip-irrigation lines stick out of the ground at wrong angles. We cant insist on wellness the way we can insist on plant safety. In a swirl of dust, a worker atop a different machine is blowing the almonds from their spot beneath the trees to the middle of the row. What the Resnicks were doing for Lost Hills, though, was a level of philanthropy I had never witnessed in the valley. He purchased his first 640-acre section in the late 1970s and kept adding more sections of almonds, pistachios, pomegranates, and citrus until he stretched the lines of agriculture like no Californian before him. He found it. Why not California? The relatives try not to press them, but the arrangement still feels like a form of indentured servitude. Turn onto Twisselman Road off I-5 and continue west until it intersects with the California Aqueduct. His account appeared in the Earth Island Journal, a small environmental quarterly out of Berkeley. This is a big crop, the field man tells me. When pressed, though, they acknowledged it could be done. But when the Kings does flood, as its doing now, millions of acre feet rush north to join up with the San Joaquin River and empty into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Notifications from this discussion will be disabled. The farmer isnt here to smell the cracking open of wood, the ripping open of warm secret earth. I head straight into the glare of the sun shooting over the Coast Range. Where does the water end up? And in fact these guys were able to squeeze and buy water in the open market, and do a few other things to keep their crops going and they were in the midst of drought. John Vidovich of De Anza Properties | eyesunnyvale.com The stacks of bottles gave him no answer. The idea was to enroll at Rutgers and study to become a doctor. Their tongues loll to their knees. Already, they are paying $69 a month to the local utility district. They rely only on rain, which concentrates the flavorful oils. Days Inn or Motel 6. The shiny red orbs, three months shy of harvest, pop out from the bright green leaves like bulbs on a Christmas tree. TV Shows. In his best Borscht Belt nasal, he takes a jab. Theyre paying $340 a month for its privilege. But the one thing he cant control is what hes most dependent on water. Groundwater agencies up and down the San Joaquin Valley had to file plans with the Department of Water Resources earlier this year showing . Its just smart business. Mark Arax: Yeah. In contrast, John Vidovich, who helms Sandridge, comes from a Silicon Valley farming-turned-developer family. Sandridge Partners, L.P. Business Data I now hear whispers of water belonging to farmers two counties away being pumped out of the ground and hijacked in the dead of night to irrigate the nuts of Lost Hills. Even Wonderful Park is spelled with the same heart-shaped O that stamps a bottle of POM. I feel too good to give any of it up.. John Vidovich from Perth, Australia talks about his experience during the Summer Diaspora Business Trip last year. It exists as one thing they can almost rationalize out in the fields. First of all, the myriad laws and rules that govern water wouldnt allow that to happen, they say. He was about my size, but he was very tough. Once his parents decided to go, he decided to go, too. Lemoore Council likely to respond to proposed feedlot near Lemoore and He maneuvers down the middle of the row, sweeps up the dried almonds, and throws them into a catcher. The food is more. This year's farm bill, the most recent incarnation of agricultural policy dating back to the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s, is a controversial $300 billion package that combines poverty-relieving nutrition programs with big payoffs to agribusinesses. Join us for a free, virtual event for International Women's Day on March 8! I catch Highway 99 in rare somnolence. I cut across Twisselman Road to the pipeline gliding along the aqueduct like a silver snake. Most everything that can be touched in this corner of California belongs to Wonderful. No water in the ground to make up for the missing government supply. Court reverses $73.4 million verdict in Kings County land, water sale John Vidovich - Green Dunes That company led to another company, and he soon owned half the commercial alarm accounts in Los Angeles. 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. According to published articles, Vidovich comes from a Silicon Valley family, and he bought his first Kings County property in a foreclosure in 1994. It was a hit. 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. Theres a lot happening in the world. A meat store, an auto repair, a pool hall, and an arcade pass for a commercial strip. Tender sprouts poke out of the dry soil, and I bend down to feel their prickle. Last time he checked, he told me he owned 180,000 acres of California. But Semitropic is the first district to get this close to making it a reality. Vidovich is, after all, a powerful landowner in the Central Valley. Wonderful has enough water to irrigate its orchards in Lost Hills and park tens of thousands of acre-feet in the water bank. He unfolds a $20 bill from a wad he keeps inside a bent paper clip, and we take a seat in the far corner. All I know is I dont want to split it up or sell it in some leveraged buyout. Lupe and I walk to the far side of the trailer park to find Gustavo. The control Resnick exercises inside his $4.5 billion privately held company does relinquish to one person: his wife, Lynda, vice chairman and co-owner, the Pomegranate Queen, as she calls herself. Looking back, he said he wouldnt make that sale today. The miles clock by not as road but as story. Vidovich is known in the area for his political activity as well as his development projects. Not a chance. He bought his first Kings County property in a foreclosure in 1994 and eventually amassed 102,000 acres in Kings - as well as nearly 40,000 acres in Kern County, 10,000 in Tulare County, and 1,700 in Fresno County, according to . Vidovich John - De Anza Properties is located at: 960 N San Antonio Rd, Los Altos, California 94022.

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