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How Beverly Hills billionaire farmers Lynda and Stewart Resnick profit from the Iran sanctions they lobbied for
Beverly Hills agri-billionaires Lynda and Stewart Resnick are the newest and oddest landlords in California’s Oligarch Valley. You might not recognize the name, but you’ve certainly seen their luxury Fiji Water bottles at your local 7-Eleven, or maybe you’ve seen Palin family dropout Levi Johnston hawking the Resnicks’ Paramount brand pistachio nuts on TV. If nothing else, you’ve eaten their Sunkist oranges. Their diversified global agribusiness operation brings in nearly $3 billion in revenue a year.
But here’s the fun part: the continued economic viability of this piece of Oligarch Valley depends on Iran being kept in a state of a permanent economic blockade. It depends on it so much that the Resnicks have joined forces with raving neocons and hardcore right-wingers, funding thinktanks and lobbyists that hype the Iranian threat and push all out war..
Their real big break came in 1978, when Lynda and Resnick, who had zero experience in agribusiness, decided to get into farming. They began buying up orange orchards and a citrus packing plant, acquiring control of Paramount Citrus Association.Stewart Resnick would later describe farming as a purely passive investment, a way to safely park his money and escape the scary wealth-destroying effects of runaway inflation of the ’70s.
The Resnicks didn’t stay passive for long. In 1979, Iran took 52 Americans hostage from the U.S. Embassy. In retaliation, President Carter levied the fist of a series of economic sanctions and trade restrictions against the country. For as long as anyone can remember, Iran had been the world’s main supplier of pistachios. But Carter’s 1979 embargo on the country effectively cut off Iranian pistachio growers from the American market and created a need for alternative pistachio production, which was virtually nonexistent in the United States.
Seeing a massive opportunity, the Resnicks began to snap up thousands of acres from Mobil Oil and Texaco in order to create pistachio and almond orchards. They steadily bought up more and more acreage all through the 1980s for rock-bottom prices because a long period of drought. By the end of the decade, the Resnicks had amassed enough farmland to rival Oligarch Valley’s biggest and oldest billionaire farmer clans: 100,000 acres—nearly 160 square miles—growing cotton, pistachios, almonds, oranges, lemons and grapefruit.
Economic sanctions against Iran were renewed and intensified under every single president after Carter, and all the while America’s domestic pistachio farming exploded. In the past thirty years it has grown from a couple of hobby farmers to an industry generating close to $1 billion. And the Resnicks have a near monopoly on the trade. Today, Resnicks’ Paramount Farming is the country’s largest grower, processor and marketer of pistachios, controlling something like 60 percent of the industry. Pistachios are very important to the Resnicks, bringing in at least 20% of their agricultural revenue.
Economic sanctions are what have allowed the Resnicks to create their pistachio empire, which would suffer a severe blow if relations with Iran were ever normalized. Iran’s pistachios are considered to be superior to America’s, so much so that Israelis still buy Iranian pistachios shipped in through Turkey. Surely the Resnicks would never be able to compete with Iran on the pistachio free market.
And so the Resnicks did what any smart and ruthless American would do: they made common cause with oil companies, Islamophobes, neocons and Likudniks, and began funneling money to think tanks and political advocacy groups that take a hardline approach with Iran. Economic sanctions, sabotage, vilification—all these things worked in the Resnicks’ interest. Bombing some of Iran’s pistachio fields wouldn’t be so bad, either…
Tax filings from 2008 show that Stewart Resnick and his wife Lynda are on the board of trustees of the highly influential Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, which was created as an AIPAC spin-off in the ’80s. In the realms of US government mid-east policy and media reporting about the region, the think tank is considered to be one of the most influential in the country. It is also ridiculously hawkish on Iran, calling for heavy sanctions and military strikes against the country. In 2005, the Resnick Foundation gave $20,000 to the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy. Unfortunately, the real amount of money the Resnicks have given to the institute is hard to gauge, as any funds that did not go through their personal foundation would not have to be reported on any of their IRS documents.
Stewart Resnick is also board member of the American Friends of IDC, a not-for-profit foundation that serves as the fundraising arm of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, a think tank with close links to the Israeli intelligence and military establishment. Like the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Herzliya is considered to be the most influential think tank in Israel on security matters. American Friends of IDC funneled $10 million to Herzliya in 2006. It is not clear how much money Resnick has personally contributed to this non-profit, as non-profits are not required to disclose the names and addresses of their contributors. But the fact that Resnick is on the board of directors shows his direct involvement in a powerful organization pushing a hardline anti-Iranian policy. After all, Stewart Resnick sits on the board with a long list of well known neocons, Islamophobes and Iran War boosters, including Vegas tycoon Sheldon Adelson, the founder of pro-Iraq/Iran war group Freedom’s Watch and infamous backer of all things neocon.
Documents filed with IRS show that the Resnick Foundation funneled roughly $1.125 million to the American Jewish Committee in a five-year span between 1999 and 2004. The American Jewish Committee (which also goes by Jewish Federations) was one of the most active lobbyists pushing for a sweeping Iran sanctions bill passed in 2010. It was right up there with Halliburton, Chamber of Commerce, ExxonMobil and Lockheed Martin.
In 2008, Resnick’s Paramount Farms reaffirmed its mission to keep hacking away at Iran’s market share. “We don’t mind stealing share from the Iranians,” said Paramount’s vice-president of worldwide sales.
Oligarch Valley: How Beverly Hills billionaire farmers Lynda and Stewart Resnick profit from the Iran sanctions they lobbied for | Mondoweiss
Beverly Hills agri-billionaires Lynda and Stewart Resnick are the newest and oddest landlords in California’s Oligarch Valley. You might not recognize the name, but you’ve certainly seen their luxury Fiji Water bottles at your local 7-Eleven, or maybe you’ve seen Palin family dropout Levi Johnston hawking the Resnicks’ Paramount brand pistachio nuts on TV. If nothing else, you’ve eaten their Sunkist oranges. Their diversified global agribusiness operation brings in nearly $3 billion in revenue a year.
But here’s the fun part: the continued economic viability of this piece of Oligarch Valley depends on Iran being kept in a state of a permanent economic blockade. It depends on it so much that the Resnicks have joined forces with raving neocons and hardcore right-wingers, funding thinktanks and lobbyists that hype the Iranian threat and push all out war..
Their real big break came in 1978, when Lynda and Resnick, who had zero experience in agribusiness, decided to get into farming. They began buying up orange orchards and a citrus packing plant, acquiring control of Paramount Citrus Association.Stewart Resnick would later describe farming as a purely passive investment, a way to safely park his money and escape the scary wealth-destroying effects of runaway inflation of the ’70s.
The Resnicks didn’t stay passive for long. In 1979, Iran took 52 Americans hostage from the U.S. Embassy. In retaliation, President Carter levied the fist of a series of economic sanctions and trade restrictions against the country. For as long as anyone can remember, Iran had been the world’s main supplier of pistachios. But Carter’s 1979 embargo on the country effectively cut off Iranian pistachio growers from the American market and created a need for alternative pistachio production, which was virtually nonexistent in the United States.
Seeing a massive opportunity, the Resnicks began to snap up thousands of acres from Mobil Oil and Texaco in order to create pistachio and almond orchards. They steadily bought up more and more acreage all through the 1980s for rock-bottom prices because a long period of drought. By the end of the decade, the Resnicks had amassed enough farmland to rival Oligarch Valley’s biggest and oldest billionaire farmer clans: 100,000 acres—nearly 160 square miles—growing cotton, pistachios, almonds, oranges, lemons and grapefruit.
Economic sanctions against Iran were renewed and intensified under every single president after Carter, and all the while America’s domestic pistachio farming exploded. In the past thirty years it has grown from a couple of hobby farmers to an industry generating close to $1 billion. And the Resnicks have a near monopoly on the trade. Today, Resnicks’ Paramount Farming is the country’s largest grower, processor and marketer of pistachios, controlling something like 60 percent of the industry. Pistachios are very important to the Resnicks, bringing in at least 20% of their agricultural revenue.
Economic sanctions are what have allowed the Resnicks to create their pistachio empire, which would suffer a severe blow if relations with Iran were ever normalized. Iran’s pistachios are considered to be superior to America’s, so much so that Israelis still buy Iranian pistachios shipped in through Turkey. Surely the Resnicks would never be able to compete with Iran on the pistachio free market.
And so the Resnicks did what any smart and ruthless American would do: they made common cause with oil companies, Islamophobes, neocons and Likudniks, and began funneling money to think tanks and political advocacy groups that take a hardline approach with Iran. Economic sanctions, sabotage, vilification—all these things worked in the Resnicks’ interest. Bombing some of Iran’s pistachio fields wouldn’t be so bad, either…
Tax filings from 2008 show that Stewart Resnick and his wife Lynda are on the board of trustees of the highly influential Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, which was created as an AIPAC spin-off in the ’80s. In the realms of US government mid-east policy and media reporting about the region, the think tank is considered to be one of the most influential in the country. It is also ridiculously hawkish on Iran, calling for heavy sanctions and military strikes against the country. In 2005, the Resnick Foundation gave $20,000 to the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy. Unfortunately, the real amount of money the Resnicks have given to the institute is hard to gauge, as any funds that did not go through their personal foundation would not have to be reported on any of their IRS documents.
Stewart Resnick is also board member of the American Friends of IDC, a not-for-profit foundation that serves as the fundraising arm of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, a think tank with close links to the Israeli intelligence and military establishment. Like the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Herzliya is considered to be the most influential think tank in Israel on security matters. American Friends of IDC funneled $10 million to Herzliya in 2006. It is not clear how much money Resnick has personally contributed to this non-profit, as non-profits are not required to disclose the names and addresses of their contributors. But the fact that Resnick is on the board of directors shows his direct involvement in a powerful organization pushing a hardline anti-Iranian policy. After all, Stewart Resnick sits on the board with a long list of well known neocons, Islamophobes and Iran War boosters, including Vegas tycoon Sheldon Adelson, the founder of pro-Iraq/Iran war group Freedom’s Watch and infamous backer of all things neocon.
Documents filed with IRS show that the Resnick Foundation funneled roughly $1.125 million to the American Jewish Committee in a five-year span between 1999 and 2004. The American Jewish Committee (which also goes by Jewish Federations) was one of the most active lobbyists pushing for a sweeping Iran sanctions bill passed in 2010. It was right up there with Halliburton, Chamber of Commerce, ExxonMobil and Lockheed Martin.
In 2008, Resnick’s Paramount Farms reaffirmed its mission to keep hacking away at Iran’s market share. “We don’t mind stealing share from the Iranians,” said Paramount’s vice-president of worldwide sales.
Oligarch Valley: How Beverly Hills billionaire farmers Lynda and Stewart Resnick profit from the Iran sanctions they lobbied for | Mondoweiss
