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The Almond Paradox
Cracking Open the Politics of What Plants Need
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Emily Reisman
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2025
About this book
A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.
Almonds have become a poster crop for agriculture's environmental controversies. Notorious for consuming vast volumes of water and trucking honeybees across the continent, California's almond orchards appear extraordinarily needy. In Spain, however, almond trees have long epitomized the exact opposite: rain-fed resilience. Often planted at the margins of agricultural viability, almonds are championed for their ecological thrift rather than their thirst. How is it that a crop can be known in such radically different ways? The Almond Paradox explores a captivating contrast between divergent ways of knowing not only how much water or pollination almond trees need, but also which trees should be grown and where. Charting the buildup to a global almond boom, the book exposes how situated histories of capitalism, land, science, and the state profoundly shape the most fundamental ways of understanding agriculture. A recognition of knowledge as place based further reveals how seemingly placeless efficiency deepens ecological precarity.
Almonds have become a poster crop for agriculture's environmental controversies. Notorious for consuming vast volumes of water and trucking honeybees across the continent, California's almond orchards appear extraordinarily needy. In Spain, however, almond trees have long epitomized the exact opposite: rain-fed resilience. Often planted at the margins of agricultural viability, almonds are championed for their ecological thrift rather than their thirst. How is it that a crop can be known in such radically different ways? The Almond Paradox explores a captivating contrast between divergent ways of knowing not only how much water or pollination almond trees need, but also which trees should be grown and where. Charting the buildup to a global almond boom, the book exposes how situated histories of capitalism, land, science, and the state profoundly shape the most fundamental ways of understanding agriculture. A recognition of knowledge as place based further reveals how seemingly placeless efficiency deepens ecological precarity.
Author / Editor information
Contributor: Emily Reisman
Emily Reisman is Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
ix -
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Acknowledgments
xi -
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Introduction
1 -
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1 Matter
30 -
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2 Flow
48 -
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3 Symbiosis
76 -
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4 Space
97 -
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5 Conjuncture
120 -
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Notes
127 -
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Bibliography
141 -
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Index
163
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
November 11, 2025
eBook ISBN:
9780520413849
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
182
eBook ISBN:
9780520413849
