<p>California's nut crop is facing a challenge of a different breed. This harvest season in California’s Central Valley, thieves cut through a fence and hauled off $400,000 in walnuts. In addition, $100,000 in almonds were stolen by a driver with a fake license and $100,000 in pistachios were taken by a big rig driver who left a farm without filling out any paperwork, according to the Lubbock-Avalanche Journal.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The USDA reported that through 2012 the state's almond crop was valued at $5 billion per year while pistachios were over $1 billion and walnuts more than $1.5 billion.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"Right now, everybody wants to be a nut grower because it's kind of like the gold rush of the 1850s," said Ripon almond farmer Kevin Fondse of Fondse Brothers Inc. "Everybody wants the gold."<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">In October, 140,000 pounds of processed walnuts from GoldRiver Orchards were also stolen.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Growers and nut processors report they have been hit hard in the past year and a coalition of nut associations formed a taskforce in October to seek the advice of law enforcement and to create an eight-step checklist for growers and nut processors. The list includes fingerprinting drivers, taking their photos and calling the broker to confirm that the paperwork is legitimate.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Have California nuts become a new form of currency?<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-01-19/california-nut-farmers-band-together-fight-expensive-thefts#.Ut6zPWTTmb8" target="_new"> Lubbock-Avalanche Journal </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
