For California’s fruit trees, 2021 was a thirsty year. Nearly 90 percent of the state experienced extreme drought. More than 70,000 farms, which grow a third of the country’s fruit and nuts, including $6 billion worth of almonds annually and nearly $1.6 billion worth of pistachios, scraped by on reduced water rations. By all indications, these severe water shortages are just a taste of what’s in store as weather patterns grow more extreme. Fruit and nut trees live, on average, for 40 or 50 years, which means that the ones…
