Calif. farmers to clear 420,000 peach trees after Del Monte bankruptcy

Central California farmers are expected to gain up to $9 million in federal aid to help remove 420,000 clingstone peach trees following the closure of Del Monte Foods’ canneries earlier this year. 

Del Monte permanently closed its Modesto and Hughson canneries in April after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last July. The factory closures left hundreds of workers without a job while also leaving farmers in dire straits as they navigated what to do with their crops. In March, the Sacramento Bee reported that many Central California farmers had their 20-year contracts to grow peaches with Del Monte canceled while facing a $550 million loss in revenue. 

The impacts pushed a delegation of California lawmakers to ask the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide financial support to the fruit growers. Last week, California Sen. Adam Schiff and Reps. Mike Thompson and David Valadao announced in a news release that the USDA had approved their request to pay California farmers to remove around 3,000 acres of clingstone peach trees before the harvest season. According to the news release, removing 50,000 tons of peaches from production could help growers save about $30 million in losses. 

“For generations, Central Valley family farms have relied on Del Monte’s Modesto facility to process their peaches, and its sudden closure left growers with thousands of pounds of fruit and no clear path forward,” Valadao said in the news release. 

Schiff, Thompson and Valadao, in addition to 39 other members of Congress, sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in March, stating that many of the affected California farmers are multigenerational family farmers who have invested in their orchards for decades. They argued that it was necessary to aid these farmers or risk “long-term structured damage to our nation’s agricultural base.” 

“When a processing facility closes and 55,000 acres of fruit suddenly have nowhere to go — that’s not something a family farm can just absorb,” Thompson said in the news release. “This funding is a critical step in ensuring these important multi-generational businesses can stay afloat.” 

Lodi-based Pacific Coast Producers purchased Del Monte’s canned fruit business earlier this year following a court approval to sell all its assets. Pacific Coast Producers offered contracts to farmers to buy 24,000 tons of peaches, but about 50,000 tons will go unused, according to the Sacramento Bee.