$300M in losses projected for California as almond farms overrun with nut-hungry rats

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.”