John R. Weeks: Cartoon unfairly picks on almonds; they’re not evil

I responding to the Jack Ohman cartoon published on July 9. It is very interesting that the almond industry is being portrayed as societal criminal abusing water in these difficult times. You have conveniently not reported about any of the benefits of almonds and more importantly show the almond industry as a villain. I might remind you that in this agriculturally diverse state there are many other crops that use water, and many use as much or more water in a growing season than almonds.

The over 800,000 acres of almonds in this state use their share of water, but so do peaches, tomatoes, corn, beef, rice, walnuts, lettuce, strawberries and the list goes on because people like to eat.

I am sorry you are ashamed of the almond industry and all of its health benefits, as well as being a vital part of our state’s economy. I believe it is this type of distorted reporting that allows people to believe that our food just magically comes from the grocery store, and farmers should only grow crops with winter rains.

Editor’s note: One of the themes of the novel The Scarlet Letter was the unfairness of stigmatizing Hester Prynne, who became pregnant without the benefit of a husband, without also stigmatizing the father of her child. Similarly, almonds are being stigmatized by some in our society.

This story was originally published July 20, 2015 at 12:30 PM with the headline "John R. Weeks: Cartoon unfairly picks on almonds; they’re not evil."