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In a large plant in the heart of California’s farmland, millions of pistachios are inspected, prepared and shipped off around the world.
在加利福尼亚州农田中心的一家大型工厂里，数百万的开心果被检查、准备并运往世界各地。
Pistachios, a kind of nut, have been around for over 3,000 years.
开心果是一种坚果，已经存在了3000多年。
First planted in central Asia, pistachios arrived in California in the 1850s along with thousands of people during the Gold Rush.
开心果最初是在中亚种植的，在19世纪50年代，它与数千人一起在淘金热期间抵达加利福尼亚州。
Since pistachios require little water, farmers have been using more land for the crops in California.
开心果需要的水很少，加州的农民们一直在用更多的土地来种植这种作物。
Pistachios brought in nearly $3 billion last year in the state.
开心果去年在该州带来了近30亿美元的收入。
And, in the past ten years, the United States has gone beyond Iran to become the world’s top exporter of the nut.
在过去十年里，美国已经超越伊朗，成为世界上最大的坚果出口国。
“There has been an explosion over the last 10 or 15 years of plantings, and those trees are coming online,” said Zachary Fraser.
扎卡里·弗雷泽说：“在过去的10年或15年里，这些树的种植出现了爆炸性的变化，现在这些树已经转到线上了。”
He is president and chief executive of American Pistachio Growers, an organization that represents more than 800 farmers in the southwestern U.S.
他是美国开心果种植者组织的总裁兼首席执行官，该组织代表了美国西南部800多名农民。
“You are starting to see the fruit of people’s vision from 40 years ago.”
“你看到的是40年前人们的愿景结出的果实。”
California agricultural data shows that the state grows more than a third of vegetables and three-fourths of fruits and nuts in the U.S.
加州农业数据显示，该州种植了美国三分之一以上的蔬菜和四分之三的水果和坚果。
Pistachios have increased over the past ten years to become California’s sixth-biggest agricultural product.
开心果在过去十年中产量增加，成为加州第六大农产品。
The nuts have increased in value ahead of longtime crops such as strawberries and tomatoes, the data shows.
数据显示，坚果的价值已经超过了草莓和西红柿等长期作物。
Much of the pistachio crop is headed to China, where it is a popular treat during Lunar New Year.
大部分开心果被运往中国，在那里，开心果是农历新年的一种流行美食。
But industry experts said Americans are also eating more pistachios.
但业内专家表示，美国人吃开心果也更多了。
The nuts were rarely seen in food stores a generation ago and today are found almost everywhere.
一代人之前，坚果在食品店里很少看到，今天它几乎随处可见。
Pistachios are sold with or without shells. Their flavors range from salt and pepper to honey-roasted.
开心果可以带壳或不带壳出售。口味有盐焗、胡椒和蜂蜜烘烤等。
The Wonderful Co., a $6 billion agricultural company, is the biggest name in pistachios.
市值60亿美元的农业公司The Wonderful Co.是开心果行业最大的品牌。
The company has grown pistachios since the 1980s.
该公司自20世纪80年代以来一直在种植开心果。
But it increased production in 2015 after developing a rootstock that produces as much as 40 percent more nuts with the same soil and water, said Rob Yraceburu, president of Wonderful Orchards.
但“奇妙果园”总裁罗布·耶雷塞布鲁表示，在开发了一种砧木后，该公司在2015年提高了产量，在相同的土壤和水分下，坚果产量增加了40%。
Now, Wonderful grows between 15 percent and 20 percent of the U.S. pistachio crop, he said.
他说，现在，“奇妙果园”的开心果占美国开心果产量的15%到20%。
“There is an increasingly growing demand in pistachios,” Yraceburu said. “The world wants more.”
“人们对开心果的需求越来越大，”耶雷塞布鲁说。“世界还想要更多开心果。”
Pistachios are set to weather California’s dry times better than the state’s even bigger nut crop, almonds.
开心果将比加州更大的坚果作物杏仁更好地经受住加州的干旱时期。
Almonds produced nearly $4 billion in the state last year, industry experts said.
行业专家说，杏仁去年在该州产生了近40亿美元的收入。
Pistachio orchards can survive with minimal water during drought, unlike almonds and other more sensitive crops.
与杏仁和其他更敏感的作物不同，开心果果园可以在干旱期间用最少的水存活下来。
The trees also use wind instead of bees for pollination and can produce nuts for many years longer, Yraceburu said.
耶雷塞布鲁说，这些树还利用风而不是蜜蜂进行授粉，并且结果年数还更长。
Many California farmers who grow pistachios and almonds are using lessons learned from almond farming.
许多种植开心果和杏仁的加州农民正在利用从杏仁种植中学到的经验。
Almond production, which is much bigger than pistachio, also increased quickly in California.
杏仁的产量比开心果大得多，加州的杏仁产量也迅速增长。
But prices fell amid a large amount of post-pandemic supply.
但疫情过后，供应量增加，价格下跌了。
At the same time, farmers faced a time of too little water and rising input costs.
与此同时，农民面临着水太少、投入成本不断上升的现状。
As a result, some farmers did not replant aging orchards when it came time to take them out.
因此，一些农民在将老化的果园拿出来时没有重新种植开心果。
Pistachio growers say they hope to avoid a similar outcome and are working to keep demand for the nut ahead of supply.
开心果种植者表示，他们希望避免类似的结果，并正在努力保持让坚果供不应求。
For example, American Pistachio Growers recently signed a deal with a top cricket player in India hoping to help promote pistachios there, Fraser said.
弗雷泽说，例如，美国开心果种植者最近与印度一位顶级板球运动员签署了一项协议，希望帮助在印度推广开心果。
The rise of pistachios is part of California farmers’ move into perennial crops, commanding higher returns than products such as cotton.
开心果的兴起是加州农民转向多年生作物的一部分，可以获得比棉花等产品更高的回报。
Perennial crops, which are not replanted every year, cannot just be changed out during dry years.
多年生作物不需要每年都重新种植，不能在干旱的年份被换掉。
As a result, they can be difficult during long periods with too little water, said Brad Franklin of the Public Policy Institute of California.
加州公共政策研究所的布拉德·富兰克林说，如果长期水太少，它们可能会很困难。
But pistachios have benefits that other perennial crops do not have.
但开心果具有其他多年生作物所没有的好处。
They can go longer without water and grow in salty soils.
它们可以在没有水的情况下存活更长时间，并在盐碱地中生长。
That may make them appealing to California farmers who are facing limits on how much groundwater they can use under a new state law, he said.
他说，这可能会吸引加州农民，因为根据一项新的州法律，他们可以使用的地下水数量受到了限制。
I’m John Russell.
我是约翰·拉塞尔。
