Rat hordes causing chaos for California’s almond industry

You may have to switch to rice milk for the next month or so.

A plague of rats is causing havoc at almond farms in California, where the rodents are running amok and damaging farms in the San Joaquin Valley, the Fresno Bee reported.

It is expected the rats will cost farmers and taxpayers more than $300 million in combined crop losses and infrastructure damage, the report said.

Growers told the Bee that roof rats, also known as black rats, have gnawed through irrigation lines, stripped bark from branches, and chomped on ripening almonds.

“We live in an infinite sea of rats,” said Niamh Quinn, a University of California Cooperative Extension wildlife adviser, speaking to the Fresno Bee. “They are everywhere.”

The rats, experts said, have taken to burrowing underground whereas they’ve typically nested in the almond trees.

This has made the rats harder to control.

One farmer estimated a 50% crop loss, thanks to the pesky rats, the paper reported.

A 2024 survey by the California Department of Food and Agriculture found up to 32 rats were being captured each night at some area trapping locations. 

Analysts admitted they’re probably underestimating the true impact of the infestations, and suggest the climate crisis may not be helping, as rat populations grow faster in warmer conditions.

Researchers are urging farmers to perform burrow fumigation to contain booming rat populations.