Cling peach growers in the Yuba-Sutter area and across the Central Valley are being thrown a lifeline from Washington, D.C., after months of uncertainty following a major cannery closure.
A group of bipartisan lawmakers from California announced last week that they secured $9 million in federal aid to help the farmers rip out their peach orchards.
That’s after the American canning company Del Monte Foods announced it was filing for bankruptcy, leading to the closure of its cannery in Modesto — it was one of the last canneries in the state. It’s a massive issue for cling peach growers because the fruit isn’t sold fresh. This type of peach's flesh clings to the pit, making it best suited for canning. Without a cannery, farmers have no buyer for their fruit.
That’s where the new tree-pull program comes in. It’s funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and could save farmers $30 million in projected losses.
“They're going to remove acreage from their farming operation, and the federal government will provide funding based on how many acres they remove,” said Congressman Mike Thompson, who helped lead the effort and now represents Yuba and Sutter counties following redistricting under Proposition 50.
Del Monte’s Modesto facility processed around 30% of California's cling peaches. As part of the bankruptcy process, Del Monte Foods canceled its long-term contracts with growers, leaving approximately 50,000 tons of cling peaches in the Central Valley without a home. That set off the race to get a compensation program set up for farmers who would be forced to pull their trees.
“It's going to take these guys a generation to overcome what they've lost,” Sutter County Supervisor Jeff Stephens said.
Stephens was once a cling peach farmer himself and said he’s weathered many hardships in the industry over the decades, which is what motivated him to go to D.C. last month to lobby for the funding for growers.
“It's certainly not going to fix the blow, but at least it will lessen the blow and help them get the trees out of the ground so that they don't have to look at them every day,” Stephens said.
Thompson said he knows growers still have a lot of questions when it comes to next steps.
“I'm working with the farmers and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure that we do this as quickly as possible, and the farmers get the help they need to navigate the system,” he said.
The big question now is what farmers will plant in place of those peach trees.
“I doubt it’ll be peaches,” Thompson said.
