![\"Rich](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SAC_0175_RCB_20260204_PeachFarmers.JPG\" "\\"Rich")
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Rich Hudgins, president of the California Canning Peach Association (CCPA), speaks about the demise of Del Monte Foods while displaying a picture of a tombstone alongside Ranjit Davit, center, CCPA chairman and Sutter County peach grower, and Kevin Ralph, right, AgWest State President, at the association\u2019s annual meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
REN\u00c9E C. BYER<\/p>\n
rbyer@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
Thousands of tons of peaches without a cannery to process them will soon grow in orchards throughout the Central Valley, assuming those peach trees remain in the ground.<\/p>\n
Peach growers are waiting to learn whether they will receive funding to remove the thousands of acres of peaches growing without a home after the bankruptcy of Del Monte Foods led to the cancellation of 20-year contracts<\/a> \u2014 many of which began within the past few years \u2014 valued collectively at more than $550 million.<\/p>\n The California Canning Peach Association has proposed a $12 million tree-pull program to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, using $3 million from the association and industry matched by $9 million of federal aid.<\/p>\n Rich Hudgins, canning association president, recently met in Washington, D.C., with USDA officials from the Agricultural Marketing Service, to whom he emphasized the plight of the affected growers, and the need for a resolution soon, citing pressure from state laws penalizing abandoned orchards.<\/p>\n \u201cThe department has yet been unable to give me a definitive answer, but they understand the urgency of the request,\u201d Hudgins said.<\/p>\n With the growing season on the horizon, peach farmers are deciding whether to pull their trees without the assurance of financial help, or invest in maintaining orchards bearing fruit without a buyer. Consequently, the Sutter County Agricultural Department expects a rise in abandoned orchards, according to a letter agricultural commissioner Lisa Herbert wrote to the canning association.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to severe financial instability affecting segments of the clingstone peach industry, there is a credible and immediate risk that orchard acreage may be neglected, abandoned, or left unmanaged,\u201d Herbert wrote. \u201cIn perennial crops such as peaches, even short periods of neglect can lead to significant pest buildup, disease spread, and long-term economic harm.\u201d<\/p>\n Sutter County, the epicenter<\/p>\n Last year Del Monte received about 74,000 tons of cling peaches from Central Valley growers, processed at the company\u2019s cannery in Modesto. The company announced in January it would close there after no buyer purchased it through bankruptcy auction<\/a>.<\/p>\n The last remaining large-scale processor, Pacific Coast Producers, booked about 24,000 tons of that amount on one-year contracts, leaving about 50,000 tons of peaches expected to harvest this summer without a home. That equates to more than 3,000 acres of orchards growing without a buyer, according to the canning association.<\/p>\n Among Central Valley communities, Sutter County has the largest number of affected growers, Hudgins said.<\/p>\n An estimated 2,000 acres of clingstone peaches in Sutter County went without a buyer after the Del Monte contracts were canceled, about half of approximately 4,000 acres affected throughout the state, according to the letter.<\/p>\n The 2,000 acres unaccounted for represent a significant portion of the 7,140 acres of cling peaches harvested in 2024<\/a>, according to Sutter County\u2019s latest crop report<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen impacts are concentrated within a single county, the likelihood increases that unmanaged orchards could develop into localized pest reservoirs, creating broader economic and agricultural consequences across the region,\u201d Herbert wrote.<\/p>\n Growers without contracts face the decision of whether to remove their orchards without assurance of payment or federal support, or to wait for an approved tree-pull program. Waiting for a federal program costs time that could go toward beginning a new crop in place of the peach trees, and the potential management and spraying necessary to maintain the orchards in the meantime.<\/p>\n A grower maintaining land deemed a nuisance due to pests, including by neglect or abandonment, could receive violations from the agricultural commissioner with associated fines of $500 to $1,000 per acre if unresolved, per penalties added to state law in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cA federally coordinated emergency response would be far more effective and less costly than allowing unmanaged acreage to trigger widespread pest pressure, enforcement litigation and cascading economic loss,\u201d Herbert wrote.<\/p>\n Abandonment issues<\/p>\n An abandoned orchard may be considered a nuisance, under state law, when its condition begins affecting surrounding crops, due to pests, plant diseases or other factors. State law requires county agricultural commissioners to give notice when abandoned farmland creates neighboring problems, and could lead to court action to resolve a given issue.<\/p>\n Nicolas Oliver, Sutter County assistant agricultural commissioner, said when county workers have responded to reports of abandoned farmland, the presence of pest damage has generally been noticeable and verifiable. But those complaints are uncommon.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not necessarily specific guidance as to what neglected or abandoned means, and that can be difficult to manage,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The county agricultural department typically sees only one or two abandoned orchards a year, Oliver said, which it learns about through complaints, often from affected neighbors. Those cases typically involve transactions where land is neglected while transferring to a new owner or manager, with the involved parties either unable to or disincentivized from maintaining the property.<\/p>\n Now the unexpected oversupply of peaches and unclear options or support for growers may cause a different incentive structure that results in more neglected orchards.<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand these growers are in limbo, and may likewise not want to put any more money into these orchards,\u201d Oliver said. \u201cOur concerns are that we\u2019ll receive complaints from neighboring orchardists, and will need to manage that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Oliver said that the agricultural department is sympathetic toward the affected peach growers and does not mean to invoke the state abandoned orchard law as a threat. The department is otherwise uninvolved when growers remove orchards, only notified when informed of the crop being planted in its place.<\/p>\n \u201cWe operate this program on a complaint basis, and we\u2019re just foreseeing that the economic situation may lead to orchards being quote-un-quote \u2018neglected\u2019 or \u2018abandoned\u2019 until there\u2019s clarity over the situation,\u201d Oliver said. \u201cAnd that would have an impact on neighboring orchards.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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