Patricia Highsmith’s 1950 novel Strangers on a Train is pretty dark. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 film is a lot better. I’m hoping to introduce two strangers.
They will not have to commit murder and they have a lot more in common than Patricia Highsmith’s protagonists, Guy Haines and Charles Bruno. One has an almond orchard in California, the other palm oil plantations in Indonesia. The former is a private company, the latter you will recognise as MP Evans. They will find something in common – they are long term investors. An almond tree has a productive lifespan of thirty years, palm oil twenty years. The price of almonds and palm oil is volatile but the almond farmer can only take a crop once a year. Palm oil is harvested every day of the year so that a palm oil producer effectively gets the average annual price. In almonds you have to take your chances.
California grows about 80% of the world’s almond crop. In the second half of 2016 the price just about halved when demand unexpectedly slumped. At other times the price has gone bananas (ho ho) because of droughts.
Neither of these companies are upstarts. My almond farmer goes back to the 1920s and MP Evans to the 1870s. Almonds Inc (I have invented the name but not the company) is a private company wholly owned by the family. MP Evans has a family stake of about 10%. I have rather often written about the agreeable al fresco MP Evans AGMs so no doubt you are wondering if there are any fringe benefits in the almond business? There most certainly are and here they are; more addictive than crack cocaine and much more nourishing.
You are seeing almonds grown on the ranch coated in dark chocolate. There are two packets because one is a present for Robert. My guest at Carmen was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t for her. Oh, I nearly forgot, a reader impressed by my stock market sagacity (yes, really) decided to buy into MP Evans. Fortunately or otherwise his broker bought him shares in a small New York bank called Evans that has performed rather well.
Those choc almonds … tempting … definitely.
So often I find myself wryly amused by the authors innocent(?) recording of his experiences, I mean, what right thinking company would send gifts of nuts to the nut house?