Pistachio Wars: How your snacks support environmental destruction &
global conflict
BRATTLEBORO – What do your snacks have to do with environmental destruction and global
conflict? Find out on Sunday, May 31, at a film and panel discussion at the Latchis Theater.
Pistachio Wars follows journalist Yasha Levine through California’s Central Valley as he tracks
the influence of a billionaire couple and how their agricultural practices, lobbying efforts and
philanthropy are harming local farmers and migrant communities and tipping the geopolitical
balance.

Levine and director Rowan Wernhem investigate the Wonderful Company, a private corporation
run by Beverly Hills billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick. As of 2023, Wonderful Pistachios
was the largest producer of pistachios in the US, which has eclipsed Iran as the primary
producer and exporter of the popular nuts.
The Wonderful Company’s long list of popular brands also includes Halos mandarins, Fiji water,
Pom juices, and Teleflora flowers. Its massive California water grab has left low-income
communities and family farms parched, poisoned, and struggling to survive.
The Resnicks are also active supporters of hawkish US think tanks, outspoken Iran critics in
Congress, and Israeli military interests – all beneficiaries that foment hostile relations between
the U.S. and Iran and benefit the American pistachio industry.
“It’s also very circular because American foreign policy created the Resnicks’ business: U.S.
meddling in Iran and subsequent economic sanctions created the conditions for the emergence
of California’s pistachio industry. Then profits from that industry circulate and cycle right back
into this imperial machine that works to basically create a consensus in America that Iran is our
greatest enemy,” Levine said in an interview in The Nation.
Film Focus Online called Pistachio Wars a “punchy, eye-opening documentary that reveals how
something as simple as a nut connects to environmental collapse, political lobbying, and even
international conflict.”
The May 31 film screening and discussion are sponsored by No Appetite for Apartheid-Southern
Vermont, the local branch of a national effort to educate consumers, stores, and restaurants
about products that support Israel’s apartheid and genocide against Palestinians.
“It’s easy to be fooled by cutesy marketing campaigns and happy-sounding names, but these
products are causing environmental disaster in California and supporting U.S. empire abroad,”
said Emmet Mahdavi of NA4A. “By understanding where our food dollars go, we’re empowered
to contribute to justice around the globe.”
Pistachio Wars will be shown on Sunday, May 31, at 4 p.m., at The Latchis. A panel discussion
will follow the screening. Suggested admission is $10 by donation and will help support Latchis
Arts.