Pistachio farming goes nuts after droughts

Two decades ago, Miguel Angel Garcia harvested grapes and grains on his farm in central Spain, like his father and grandfather before him.

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Now he produces pistachios - a more lucrative crop that can better withstand the droughts that have become more frequent and intense in Spain.

Garcia harvests 10 to 20 tons of the green nut each year at his 26-hectare farm in Manzanares in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha, part of a boom in pistachio production in Spain.

"Wine and cereals weren't viable anymore," said the 58-yearold, who planted his first pistachio trees in 2007. "If I hadn't changed, I wouldn't have been able to make a living from my farm." In the stony plot behind him, an electric harvester latched onto the trunk of a small pistachio tree and then shook it, causing nuts to fall into a vast canvas set up below, open like an upside-down umbrella.

Pistachio trees, which are native to the Middle East, are "resistant" and "adapted to the climate we have here" with its hot and dry summers and cold spells in winter, Garcia said.