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Summary: The Resnicks built Wonderful Company into California’s largest farming empire, controlling vast orchards of almonds, pistachios, citrus, and pomegranates. They survived drought by banking water and replanting aggressively, but their dominance relies on heavy groundwater use, pipelines, and political influence. While they invest in worker health and philanthropy, critics accuse them of depleting aquifers, clear-cutting, and monopolizing water. California’s new groundwater law means large amounts of farmland will eventually be retired, raising doubts about the long-term future of agribusiness on this scale.

Pros: Huge economic impact, major food production

Worker health programs (lower diabetes rates)

Resilient, able to adapt during droughts

Occasional philanthropy and community gestures

Cons: Heavy groundwater depletion, environmental harm

Monopolizes water, hurting small farmers

Community backlash (clear-cutting, boycotts)

Long-term unsustainability under new water laws

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Groundwater Overdraft / Subbasin Status

The Kern County Subbasin is very large (≈ 1.78 million acres), the biggest in California.

It is considered critically overdrafted, meaning more groundwater is being pumped out than is naturally replenished.

It has to meet sustainability goals by 2040, under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

Regulatory Oversight & Plan Deficiencies

In 2022, the initial sustainability plans submitted by the local groundwater agencies (GSAs) were judged inadequate by the state, which triggered consideration of probation status.

SJV Water.

Key issues included inconsistent data/methods among GSAs, water-level threshold settings that allow decline below historic lows before triggering corrective action, and weak protections for drinking water and subsidence (land sinking).

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Originally a state water project, later transferred into private hands.

Now largely controlled by the Resnicks’ Wonderful Company.

Stores massive amounts of groundwater during wet years for use in dry years.

Criticized for privatizing a public resource and giving disproportionate water power to one farming empire.

Key to keeping almond, pistachio, and citrus orchards alive through drought.

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POM Wonderful: Marketed pomegranate juice as a superfood; faced lawsuits over exaggerated health claims (heart disease, cancer prevention).

Marketing: Used bold, quirky ads to make pomegranates mainstream in the U.S. diet.

Resnicks: Stewart and Lynda Resnick built Wonderful Company into a farming empire (almonds, pistachios, citrus, Fiji Water, POM).

Philanthropy: Donated to universities, museums, and local health programs.

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Key Findings

California endures recurring multi-year droughts; recent ones include 2012-2016 (one of the worst in state history), 2017-18, and droughts in the early 2020s.

Droughts are getting more extreme & unpredictable due to climate change: higher temperatures, reduced snowpack, more evaporation, soil moisture depletion.

Major tree loss: from 2011–2017 drought alone, over 100 million trees died due to stress + low soil moisture + pests/infection.

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Own luxury wine brands: JUSTIN, Landmark, and Lewis Cellars.

Bought a Napa vineyard (Calistoga, 42 acres) in 2023 for ~$11 million.

Appointed Steve Myers in 2024 to lead and expand their wine businesses.

Faced backlash for clear-cutting oak trees and heavy water use at Justin Vineyards.

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Controlling water in California is an example of Federalism because it shows how power is divided and often contested between federal, state, and local governments, with the federal government managing projects like dams and aqueducts, the state setting water rights and environmental rules, and local agencies and private landowners fighting over access and storage.