California farmers to destroy 420,000 peach trees following Del Monte bankruptcy

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[algore]

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.”

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TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: california; delmonte; food; peaches

[algore]

I remember the day Chris wrote a song about Peaches, I was drinking beer with his brother Tim, and he showed me the lyrics written out on a yellow legal pad, I was like uh huh ok dude, good luck with that.

It later peaked at number 29 on the US Billboard Hot 100

Not the first time I have been really wrong.

[GMThrust]

Why destroy the trees? Why not open it up for people to pick their own peaches, like they do with strawberry farms around the country. Or do they have other plans for selling the land.

[Steely Tom]

Isn’t Del Monte the company that had the employee cooked in an automatic oven a few years ago?

[SIDENET]

Millions of peaches, peaches for me

Millions of peaches, peaches for free

[Old Grumpy]

>>Or do they have other plans for selling the land.<<

I shudder to think . . . some screwball idea for sure.

[CatOwner]

Why not open it up for people to pick their own peaches, like they do with strawberry farms around the country.

I would imagine the liability of having people climb up trees on their own ladders (or no ladders at all) would be a problem. I still don't get why the trees need to be removed.

[V_TWIN]

Are you kidding?

California actually doing the citizens a solid instead sticking it to them?

As the guard at the Emerald City gate told Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.......NOT NO WAY, NOT NO HOW! 😁

[Vigilanteman]

This has stupid written all over it. Destroy perfectly good peach orchards because a cannery went bankrupt and give them a government subsidy to do it?

Why not use the subsidy to organize a farm coop loan to buy the cannery since there is an obvious market to serve?

This type of stupid solution has FDR written all over it!

[Organic Panic]

They will turn the land in to high density apartments.

[butlerweave]

Peach juice , peach pie

[kawhill]

“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.” I wish I could get a peach tree to grow, since the EPA banned lindane, the borers won’t leave ‘em alone.

[Karliner]

Water and contracts...no one can afford it. This pic is of acres of apricot trees chopped and destroyed because Gilroy reneged on lifetime usage of well water.

[posterchild]

Won’t some other company have an increase in demand for canned peaches since Del Monte is getting out of the business? Will people consume fewer peaches because the can does not say ‘Del Monte?’

[ConservativeMind]

My wife loved that song.

“Presidents of the United States of America”

I will pass on you know them!

[libertylover]

They argued that it was necessary to aid these farmers or risk “long-term structured damage to our nation’s agricultural base.”

I don't quite understand how destroying 420,000 peach trees with food on them helps "our nations agricultural base".

Someone please explain.

[PeterPrinciple]

Why California Canneries Closed — The Del Monte Case
California’s canneries, especially the Modesto facility, closed because Del Monte Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2025 and could not find a buyer for the plant When In Your State+1. The company cited heavy debt from a prior acquisition and missteps in long-term fruit purchasing commitments made during a period of pandemic-driven sales spikes Ag Alert. These commitments left Del Monte with large, unmet contracts, and when sales slowed, the financial strain mounted.

During a court-supervised auction, no buyer stepped forward for the Modesto cannery, which processed peaches, apricots, and pears for Central Valley growers When In Your State. The plant was Del Monte’s last operating facility in California, and the company decided to wind it down by April 2026 When In Your State. This closure ended Del Monte’s more than 100-year history of processing California-grown fruits and vegetables Ag Alert.

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why did it close???

DEMOCRATS AND PANDEMIC

[Jane Long]

DANG!! Del Monte is one of the last producers/canneries to use NON-GMO produce.

This is outrageous ... and, all on purpose, as well.

[Organic Panic]

This sort of makes me sad after spending so much time in the valley when I was in college and after. Del Monte was every where and especially in the pantry of my college crash pad. Drive along 99 and it was one orchard after another.

I am going to guess part of this was from that high speed train scam.

Too bad it happened so suddenly. An enterprising individual could have used them for peach brandy.

[vikingd00d]

>>I would imagine the liability of having people climb up trees on their own ladders (or no ladders at all) would be a problem

Have them sign a waiver.. problem solved.

[Leaning Right]

> Why destroy the trees? <

It’s an odd story, to be sure. And the article does not address your very good question.

Maybe the farmers want to plant different crops there?