Forum Post: Mic check: boycott products of billionaire grower's corporation: Paramount farms.

Mic check: boycott products of billionaire grower's corporation: Paramount farms.

Owner: Stewart Resnick, also big state/national political contributor and friend of Arianna "Zsa Zsa" Huffington.

Products to avoid: all Paramount Farms nut products such as "California pistachios", "Almond Accents", "Sunkist Growers" and "Everybody's Nuts"

Products from subsidiary companies include Fiji bottled water (see story of relationship with military dictatorship in Fiji below and bad effects on Fijian people), POM pomegranate juices and Silk Almond Milk. Resnick's "empire" stretches far and wide.

Why:

1. Significant environmental/ecological harm to the California Delta (also known as the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta) the biggest fresh/salt water estuary on the Pacific coast of the U.S. This "harm" includes collapse of a number of delta fish populations.

Paramount Farms (along with other big corporate farmers like the Boswell family) use publicly subsidized water from the state water system which was originally created to furnish irrigation water to much smaller FAMILY FARMS. Over pumping of delta water to Paramount Farms and other corporate water contractors has caused serious harm to natural and recreational resources of Delta and pesticides from farm run off has also had serious negative effects.

Note: The pumps are so powerful they can reverse the tides in parts of the Delta and rivers.

supporting information:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9876054/ns/us_news-environment/t/californias-vast-delta-nearing-collapse/#.TtHNEGZ5HmU http://www.alternet.org/water/144427/meet_stewart_resnick,_corporate_farming_billionaire_and_one-man_environmental_wrecking_crew/ http://www.paramountfarms.com/#growers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento_–_San_Joaquin_River_Delta http://iba.audubon.org/iba/viewSiteProfile.do?siteId=229&navSite=state

http://iba.audubon.org/iba/viewSiteProfile.do?siteId=229&navSite=state

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Water_Project

1. Corruption of state/federal officials and agencies. Utilizing the U.S. system of institutionalized bribery officially known as political "contributions", some recipients: Dianne Feinstein, Jerry Brown, Fabian Nunez, etc. Also: Resnick/Paramount and the other big water contractors in California have created and funded a number of fake Grass Roots groups ("AstroTurf") to influence and control the political process and therefore Water/Fish and Game/Environmental agencies. Some of these Astro Turf groups are: Friends of the Delta, Families Protecting the Valley, the Latino Water Coalition and Coalition for a Sustainable Delta. supporting information: http://californiawatch.org/environment/corporate-farmer-calls-upon-political-allies-influence-delta-dispute

http://www.c-win.org/news/standing-big-water’s-astroturf-groups.html

http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/tag/stewart-resnick/

http://www.alternet.org/water/144427/meet_stewart_resnick,_corporate_farming_billionaire_and_one-man_environmental_wrecking_crew/ http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/tag/stewart-resnick/

1. Relationship with military dictatorship in Fiji and other bad effects on people of Fiji.

Supporting information:

http://www.minyanville.com/special-features/articles/Pom-Fiji-Lynda-Resnick-robert-a/10/21/2010/id/30623

1. Unsubstantiated claims about products. The Resnick's POM Wonderful company has recently been charged by F.T.C. with making unsubstantiated claims about the therapeutic effects of their pomegranate juice.

Supporting information:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/business/28pom.html

Note: A current PR, legal and now administrative campaign initiated by one of the corporate growers AstroTurf groups listed above (The Coalition For a Sustainable Delta) seeks to blame a popular sport fish, Striped Bass, for the collapse of other populations of fish in the delta. The striped bass comes from the East Coast of the U.S. and was introduced legally by the California Fish Commission in 1879 and for approx. 120 years has coexisted with the other species of native fish including with healthy (even abundant) populations of now listed (Threatened/Endangered) delta species. The striped bass sport fishery in California is itself much depleted from what it once was but still supports many mom and pop businesses, tackle stores, guides, resorts, motels etc.

Supporting information:

http://www.c-win.org/news/standing-big-water’s-astroturf-groups.html

http://blogs.alternet.org/danbacher/2011/11/05/anglers-blast-dfg-striped-bass-proposal/