The truck driver hits the wide open of Highway 33 and traces the serpentine of the aqueduct. Anything else I can help you with?, He seems in a hurry. I meet up with the Wonderful field man who first tipped me off to the pipeline. Here, a crew has dug a culvert beneath the road and hiked the pipeline under the asphalt that divides one field from another. And, yes, that takes water. I remind him of the time we spent together eight years earlier in his Sunset House. His father worked as a truck driver, transporting crops to the city. "What I was most alarmed about was how I, and most people in the area, knew nothing of this proposal," he told The Leader. The Wheat King begets the Cattle King, and the Cattle King begets the Cotton King, and the Cotton King begets the Nut King and Pomegranate Queen. That breaks your agreement with those farmers. I didnt grow up here, but if it wasnt for California, its openness and opportunities, I wouldnt be sitting where Im sitting., No other farmer, not even Gallo, had cornered a market the way Resnick had cornered the growing, buying, processing, and selling of pistachios. But its just a cover for taking water out, Pace said. State water dwindling year after year. This water basically came from a land owned by someone whos also a near billionaire a guy named John Vidovich. They were hardly the first rich people to use patronage to try to wheedle a citizenry toward their idea of a better life. Pink and white oleanders divide the highway, and every third vehicle that whooshes by is a big rig. The plastic unfurls across the grove like a giant roll of Saran Wrap. None of his three children had the slightest interest in taking over the company. It cant be farmed like it was, he says. Today is quincena day, twice-a-month payday, and he needs me to scram because the workers coming in to cash their checks and wire 25 percent back across the border to families in Guanajuato and Guerrero will wonder if Im with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Even Wonderful Park is spelled with the same heart-shaped O that stamps a bottle of POM. Because the road ends here, there is no physical way to follow the canals flow. Have we gone too far? But that doesnt make people buy a second bottle. California is free to return to its amnesia. John Vidovich serves as the Vice President, Business Development of Discover. He paid em three times what anyone else wouldve for their land and now theyre all gettin water because of his policies, Page said. The pizza dough is cauliflower, too. Lupe and Manuel, like many of the residents, grew up next to each other in a pueblo called San Antonio deep in the state of Guerrero, a mountainous region of dramatic beauty. He doesnt feign surprise when I tell him about the pipeline, but he dismisses it as a private matter between private parties. Theyre baby tumbleweeds that have come home. The designers at the Mint made a porcelain doll with a tiny replica outfit so precise that it had to be hand-beaded with 2,000 fake pearls. According to news reports, he owns Sandridge Partners, LP, a farmland investment firm that has accumulated more than 100,000 acres of Valley farmland in recent years. On this same stretch of 99, I once wrote a story about farmworkers who moonlighted as meth cookers to make ends meet. For now, theyre selling to farmers like Resnick who can pay the price. The aqueduct brings the water, yes? Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Look, I have no guilt. These are loaded, Resnick says. If I follow them south into Resnick almonds, I can see where the water is going. "Even with the subsidy, I think cotton is a losing battle," he said, predicting that the commodity would increasingly come from China. For now, shes playing country western music on the sound system and trying to lure a combination of oil-field workers, supervisors at Wonderful, and travelers driving the last miles of James Dean. Im actually not supposed to talk about it.. And Vidovich ended up pumping water an extraordinary amount of water out of the ground in an area where theyre pumping so much water on the ground the land is sinking. Fiefdom. What if he dropped his lawsuit and the two of them worked together to solve their water problems? Water that has shipped you know hundreds of miles from the north of California where there are these abundant rivers. This is only $3? But for a lot of workers, bringing that big fat burrito from home still makes sense., I had seen what J.G. She remembers handing the boy to her sister-in-law, who carried phony papers, and watching them cross by bridge into California. Get an email notification whenever someone contributes to the discussion. As the growers punch more holes into the ground looking for a vanishing resource, the earth is sinking. Sandridge Partners received federal farm subsidies totaling approximately $1.06 million last year, the largest of any agribusiness in the nation, landing it a headline role in this year's debate. Hes oblivious, or so it seems. The eye numbed by the tedium of orchards isnt prepared for the 1.3 million square feet of industrial assault, though the palm trees and roses along the perimeter try for a transition. Farmers near Pixley already have sued him once for taking too much water out of their ground and moving it. Vidovich says he uses that Angiola groundwater to farm in Dudley Ridge, so the groundwater isnt leaving its home basin. By the time they returned to Beverly Hills, he had lost interest in a book about his life, at least one that I might write. Wonderful is getting smaller, he says. They were selling 2,500 acres of oranges and lemons and a packing house for a third of their appraised value, Resnick said. More often than not, it is hauling away some piece of the valleys bounty. Fresh from a shower, a red Kabbalah string tied around his wrist and a multihued pair of socks covering his feet, he welcomed me. A plume of dust joins up with other plumes of dust until the sky over the valley turns sickly. Its John Vidovich. This is Lynda.. Tell me, he asked, though it wasnt entirely a question. But why is insulin so expensive in the first place? I get it. Highway 46 shoots past Resnick almonds and takes you straight into town, population 1,938. It then dawned on him that guards were good, but they had to be paid an hourly wage. City of Sunnyvale NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING. Understanding water, water rights and the often complex structures of water districts has become a Vidovich hallmark. One of his films, The Blob, became a cult classic, and they lived in a house on the Westside with two Rolls-Royces in the garage. Every last tree has been torn out of the ground. Lupe excuses herself to prepare dinner. Vidovich didnt have to wait long for a buyer to come calling. Im down, Stewart, he protests. Twine strung trailer to trailer hangs with the laundry of fathers, mothers, and children. His trees were drinking from the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project, from rivers and irrigation canals and the water bank. You get exempted from the companys wellness program? Bernard has actually lost a few pounds. I stick to the left lane and try to stay ahead of the pack. Then the men of cotton, driven out of the South by the boll weevil, put the five rivers into canals and dried up the lake. He recalled bidding on a construction project while studying for the bar exam. Even as the supplies of federal and state water have dropped to near zero, agriculture in Kern keeps chugging along, growing more intensive. And, importantly, Angiola promised not to take the groundwater outside of Tulare or Kings counties or allow any of its landowners to do so. They thwack back. By: jdubble07. That was eight or nine years ago. 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. When John Vidovich was appointed as fire marshal in September 2014, he was given the difficult task of cleaning up the city of L.A.'s stubbornly antiquated Fire Prevention Bureau, making it more . Business got so brisk that he bought two trucks and hired crews. Past Delano and the first vineyards that Cesar Chavez marched against. I dont believe we should be sending water to LA, he said. About 25,000 acre feet of groundwater. She was a very frugal lady. Lynda believes that if theyre enticed in the right direction, the 1,300 workers might choose to prepare the same healthy fare at home. For college, he picked California Polytechnic in San Luis Obispo over the hill and majored in agriculture business. Stephen Vidovich died in 2007, at the age of 81, driving a tractor near one of his remaining vineyards. A large water pipeline being built near Lemoore in Kings County is raising eyebrows as much for its possible uses as for the name associated with its construction John Vidovich. We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content. Theyve gone back to the nut line. Special Report: Small Farmers Struggle as Ag Titans Boswell, Vidovich They made a new plantation here. Kingdom. No. Im in another land, an expanse of hard, ugly, cratered-out earth the color of sand. If they were farmers, they were farmers who hung out with Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, David Geffen, Warren Beatty, and Joan Didion. Stephen Vidovich, founded De Anza Properties | Archives In fact, the piece is called A kingdom from dust. Its a pretty dry place right? SANDRIDGE PARTNERS | LinkedIn It hardly ceases for the next five months. Its just smart business. My life is about California. Each face wears its own weary. And one of the things he was doing was sort of an off-the-books irrigation deal? The truth, as always, probably lies somewhere in between. John Vidovich - Sandridge Partners, L.P., Buttonwillow, California Theres a lot happening in the world. Their concern is where Vidovich is taking the groundwater. Youre the one who needs to see., We pull out of the parking lot, past the palm trees and roses, and head up the thin ribbon of Highway 33 into the dust-swirling tunnel of nuts and fruits. Thats when the Resnicks decided to sell the concept of wellness to their 4,300 employees throughout the valley the same way they sell workplace safety. Now its the Bobcats turn. I do all the calculations from the numbers I am able to gather, and I cannot figure out how these nuts are getting enough water. It was good for the bottom line. She seems a little nervous waiting in the wings. Its the beginning of September 2016, and battalions of heavy machinery dispatched from the Wonderful equipment yards pound the ground and rattle the trees. He and Lynda decided in 1984 to buy the Franklin Mint, the maker of commemorative coins and other kitsch, for $167.5 million. Stewart would deny that Giblers reporting played a part in their philanthropy. From the vaulted ceilings with gold-leaf moldings hung two blown-glass chandeliers. Number three, water from Angiola cant physically get to Semitropics proposed storage cells. On vacation in the south of France, he heard about a farming company called Paramount that needed a buyer for some of its orchards in Kern County. I applaud, too. Before he died at age 86, J.G. He needs nearly 1,000 acre-feet a day for 165 daysthe length of nut-growing seasonto hang a good crop across his acres in western Kern. He had no papers, like so many others, just an image of what this side of the border looked like. All the new water pours into the delta, and what doesnt go out to sea fills up the aqueduct again. Stewart and Lynda created a new brand, the Halo, from the same variety of mandarin. Either way is a trespass. It got to a point where the only way we could get an approval was to go to the voters, he told the Silicon Valley Business Journal hours after filing the initiative paperwork in April 2016. Read our full comments policy: losaltosonline.com/comments, $5.00 His daughter, who used to own a restaurant, is busy raising her one son. They do that because they love it., A POM craze followed. This is the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. You can plant only so many acres on ground that has no groundwater. It would involve a public permitting process and be very difficult, not to mention expensive, both men said. A flour tortilla. Past McFarland and the high school runners who won five state championships in a row in the 1990s. Yet Vidovich said he is not personally a booster of the farm bill, and that his company might be better off without it. Pace farmed in the valley and partnered with Vidovich for a while. Each square-mile section is divided into blocks, and each block counts a precise number of rows. Born on 7 Jun 1934. She tells me her not-so-silent partner is Lady Lynda, who was so bothered that Lost Hills didnt have a sit-down restaurant of its own that she sought out Angelica. First off, Hurley said, hes not Vidovichs henchman. After school and on weekends, wed clean and wax floors. I didnt see the tumbleweeds along the roadside and the strip of parched earth that separated what remained of the desert from the perfect rows of irrigated agriculture. I roll past Tulare, where every February they hold the biggest tractor show in the world, even bigger than the one in Paris. The new plantings arent cotton, alfalfa, or carrotsthe crops a farmer can decide not to seed when water becomes scarce. The room smells of Vicks VapoRub. He didnt know where to begin. I follow him inside to a long line of workers that ends at a plastic window where Hussein sits on the other side, working the cash register like a teller at a race track. Im not going to live forever, even with the massive amounts of pomegranate juice Im drinking. At the buildings he was cleaning, he noticed that no one was watching the front and back doors. President George Bush has been outspoken in his criticism of the bill, which he vetoed last week before being overruled by majorities in the House and Senate. She tells me the water comes out of the tap yellow and foul smelling, and she doesnt trust it. And when youve been as lucky as weve been, you start to think you can ride out drought, too., He did learn one lesson. He wouldnt know one of his Valencia orange groves from one of his Washington navel orange groves. The boss came back in, saw his do-nothing, and said only three words: Just get started. He began to move, and the job went quickly after that. This is how Resnick became a pistachio, almond, and pomegranate grower. When it doesnt come, he finds a way to make it come. He spits tobacco juice into the empty can of Rockstar. The sale got under the skin of valley farmers. "At a time of high food prices and record farm income, this bill lacks program reform and fiscal discipline," Bush said in a statement May 21. The partner kept the Cutie name but only after paying the Resnicks tens of millions of dollars. Subscribers keep our independent community news in business. As in most significant projects, there will be public hearings to review the proposed project's impacts. I know theres a more forceful way to ask the question, but to what end? When Lynda learned that half the students receiving thousands of dollars in company scholarships were dropping out of school, she wasnt deterred. use no threatening or hateful language. He landed a steady job with a big grower and a year later paid a coyote $5,000 to bring Lupe and their baby son to Lost Hills. The State Water Project that allowed western Kern County to grow into a farming behemoth has given no water or very little water over the past three years amid the worst drought in California history. What happens to them if Wonderful downsizes? 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. She washes two kinds of lettuce and cuts up fresh papaya to mix into a salad. Angiola was rehabbing old wells, drilling new ones and installed a large pipeline. Nowhere to turn, I turn back around and roll down my window. All Rights Reserved. It must have wounded all the more because she and Stewart thought of themselves as progressive Democrats. accounts and the history behind a news event. I head straight into the glare of the sun shooting over the Coast Range. This isnt any road. Hes farming water. The pistachio trees in Wonderful number 6 million. Its loaded, Bernard says. Posted on August 6, 2018 Bakersfield Californian. I hop out of the car. When its Pablos turn, he hands Hussein a check for $437, and Hussein counts out $433 back to him in cash. No farmer ever is. 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. I try to calculate how many hundreds of aluminum sections need to be linked seamlessly, or at least watertight, to cover the distance of a mile. for 30 days. Look, these farmers go back two, three, and four generations. He got himself into this jam. For the next two or three seconds, the almonds pour down like hail. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. And one Kern County water district could be the linchpin to it all. Burglar alarms, on the other hand, offered round-the-clock vigilance without coffee breaks.