The Hindu Business Line : Profit with pistachios

As you drive across acres and acres of neatly laid out farms in the Lost Hills — the almond and pistachio growing belt of California — and soak in information about the various protections and safeguards available to farmers in such developed regions of the world, Budget 2008 and its most salient feature of a massive Rs 60,000-crore loan waiver for small and marginal Indian farmers come to mind.

Economic slowdown is palpable and the mood in the greatest consuming country sombre, but the pistachio growers and processors who have assembled at the Annual 2008 Pistachio conference held in Monterey, California, and hosted by Paramount Farms, the world’s largest grower of this tree nut, are in an upbeat mood.

Gary and Linda Thomson own 40 acres on which they grow both pistachios and almonds, and constitute one of the “500 grower partners” that the Paramount President Stewart Resnick says his company is associated with.

On the profit factor in growing pistachios Linda says, “Pistachios have on and off years and depending on this each acre can fetch you a profit of $1,000 to $2,000.” She is happy with the returns and says, “I’d rather be a farmer than anything else!”

We are a group of international journalists and nutritionists invited by Paramount Farms to visit its pistachio orchards, the processing plant and attend the conference. At Lost Hills, we find the pistachio harvesting season has ended in October, and the trees have shed all their leaves and stand stark and barren, but the almond trees are in full bloom. Covered almost entirely with white flowers, they simply take your breath away.

Paramount might be the world’s largest producer of pistachios but what hits you in the face at the conference is that there is a marked attempt to promote “California pistachios” as a brand, even while making a very strong pitch for Paramount brands such as Sunkist, Wonderful Pistachios and Everybody’s Nuts.

In his welcome address Resnick says he is “proud to provide the definitive 2008 Annual Report for the California Pistachio industry”. The scale of the company’s operations is massive — they grow almonds and pistachios over 70,000 acres, half their own and half of their “grower partners”. While almonds are grown over 40,000 acres, pistachio trees occupy the other 30,000 acres.

Speaking on behalf of the grower partners, he says the challenge before the industry is “to double California pistachio sales in the next seven years, while maintaining a profitable grower return.”

You realise over the next hour that this is no empty talk; a cogent, well thought out marketing and sales plan is unveiled by the company’s marketing and sales executives on the opportunities in markets like Europe, Mexico, China and India and the strategies that will be used to achieve their ambitious growth plans. For example, apart from the US and China — Paramount Farms’ largest market, the company sees a five-year incremental opportunity of 60 million pounds of pistachios in Western Europe, 70 million pounds in China, 50 million in India, 30 million in Russia and Eastern Europe, and 20 million in Mexico.

Spelling out the company’s aggressive growth plans for the next five years, Vice President, Sales, Mark Masten says it envisages a growth potential of 300 million pounds of Paramount pistachios. Towards this figure India is expected to contribute a staggering 50 million additional pounds compared to the 1.1 million pounds it consumes annually at present.

On the field

Switching from the conference room to the Dudley Ridge Ranch in Lost Hills, Bernard Puget, Paramount’s ranch manager and an agronomist and entomologist whose passion for pistachios is only too evident, provides us with nuggets associated with pistachio cultivation. The man who has done this for 30 long years says pistachio trees in California are over 150 years old while those in Iran and Syria go back to even 300 years. As against the almond tree which has a life span of only 20-25 years, the unique thing about a pistachio tree is that it produces nuts for 100 years and more.

Only the female trees bear the fruit, but the male trees are of course required for pollination. “So in our farms we plant male trees in every fifth row, though the overall ratio is one male for every 10 female trees,” says Puget.

He explains that pistachio trees have “on and off years”, so the yield per tree can range from “25-30 pounds in on years and maybe 5 pounds in off years.” Each acre has about 180 to 200 trees, and the profit per acre could range from $1,800 to $2,500 depending on the yield that year, he says.

Compare this with the agri scene in India. The relatively better-off farmers in the banana orchards of Jalgaon belt in Maharashtra get a profit of only Rs 15,000 per acre. And that too for farms that get the best of inputs and irrigation — almost the entire banana belt here has switched over to micro-irrigation.

Ideal weather

The California pistachio farms are on sprinkler irrigation and Puget explains that from the seed stage, pistachio trees take 15 years to yield, but through nursery transplants they can start yielding in 6-7 years; almonds take only three years through similar procedures. As for ideal weather conditions, he says, “Pistachio loves hot summers and cold winters, and thrive in the California region.” The trick, in pistachio cultivation, is to get the soil, water and the weather right, as also pruning, he adds.

But harvesting the pistachio is more difficult; Paramount Farms’ Vice President, Marketing, Dominic Engels points out that the superiority and better taste of California pistachio over the Iranian product comes from the fact that the nuts are not allowed to fall on the ground. They are mechanically harvested and go for processing, roasting and packaging without touching the ground. After harvesting in October, pistachios require at least 800 hours below 45 degrees Fahrenheit from November through February.

Nuts and facts

Paramount Farms is funding research to promote pistachio as a healthy snack and its regular inclusion in the diet can help combat the present obesity epidemic. Dr David Heber, the internationally renowned nutritionist from UCLA (University of California Los Angeles), says he is convinced that pistachio provides a rich source of monounsaturated fats and antioxidants, and its rich lutein content helps combat age-related macular degeneration in the eye. “In short, pista chio helps to balance the total nutrition in the diet.” One serving of this nut — about 49 kernels — yields more than 30 different vitamins, minerals and beneficial phytonutrients for about 160 calories.

He says that apart from obesity management, pistachios can play a key role in the prevention of Type II diabetes. “We now know that Indians are the most susceptible in the entire world to Type II diabetes, and I would be happy to do research with Indian doctors on the beneficial effects of pistachios on health,” says Dr Heber, who has recently visited India.

The burden of the song at the pistachio conference is that against “conventional wisdom that defined nuts as a guilty pleasure, health experts across the world today believe that a smart diet should include a variety of healthy foods. Just like fruits and vegetables, pistachios are nutrient dense; and have six times the antioxidants that one gets from green tea”.

Engels adds that research had shown pistachios can help “protect the heart by lowering bad cholesterol and raising good cholesterol levels. That’s largely because almost 90 per cent of the fat in pistachios is the good ‘heart healthy’ type. Among snack nuts, pistachios offer the highest levels of phytosterols, a compound shown to reduce cholesterol absorption.”

He points out that pistachio packs contain the FDA’s “heart health claim seal of approval”. Says the FDA seal: “Scientific evidence suggests (italics added for emphasis), but does not prove, that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts, such as pistachios, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.”

Engels adds that research Paramount has funded for several American and other universities supports claims on the beneficial effects of nuts, including pistachios, in weight management; “I don’t like using the term weight loss.” Contrary to belief in some quarters that nuts cause weight gain, “evidence points to a lower body mass index for nut lovers and supports the view that adding healthy, tasty foods to the diet can help dieters stay on track longer. One of the lowest calorie and fat nuts, just a handful of pistachios (about 30 kernels) offers both protein and fibre, making this a satisfying 100-calorie snack.”

What comes next doesn’t require any great research: because pistachios come in shells, they take longer to peel… and hence eat! …and the proof of the pudding is in eating it! But here it is in watching what the expert is eating. So at the conference lunch, “everybody was watching what I was eating,” laughs Dr Heber.

So what did he eat?

“Salad, a piece of chicken… I would have preferred fish, but then it is quite a task to provide fresh fish for a huge conference like this… and fruits!”

The highly successful author of What Colour is Your Diet and The L.A. Shape Diet: The 14 day Total Weight Loss Plan points out that at present the US government spends a staggering $130 billion on management of obesity-related diseases; a change in lifestyle and a healthier diet can cut down this expenditure. “Eat colourful fruits and vegetables, limited grains and a sufficient quantity of nuts, and you can’t go wrong,” is his parting advice.

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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