That article is about problems with transporting almonds with ships (oceanic carriers ... make twice as many annual round trips by sending empty containers back to Asia to pick up more goods for export instead of ... almonds)? That's for another discussion ... one where I would talk about Alascan-Siberian bridge and trains, but ... let it wait for another time.

And sorry, but california farms are not forests. A monoculture from horizon to horizon is bad practice not only for the grains, but for the trees also.

For example, if done right they wouldn't need to water / deplete ground water reservoirs and hoard bees from around the country every year.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-permaculture-f...

https://agendagotsch.com/en/what-is-syntropic-farming/

https://agendagotsch.com/en/multi-story-tree-lines/