The Almond Paradox

Cracking Open the Politics of What Plants Need

Emily Reisman

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Hardback

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English

University of California Press
28 October 2025

Sociology & anthropology

Series: Critical Environments: Nature, Science, and Politics

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.

By: Emily Reisman
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 19
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780520423060
ISBN 10: 0520423062
Series: Critical Environments: Nature, Science, and Politics
Pages: 186
Publication Date: 28 October 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Emily Reisman is Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.