For decades, California peach farmers planted trees knowing they had a buyer waiting for the fruit. Now, many of those same farmers are preparing to rip entire orchards out of the ground.
After Del Monte Foods shut down major canneries following its bankruptcy, growers across Central California have been left with a massive peach surplus and far fewer places to sell it.
The result could mean the destruction of roughly 420,000 clingstone peach trees across the state.
Why farmers are removing entire orchards
The closure of Del Monte’s Modesto cannery hit especially hard because the facility reportedly processed around 30% to 35% of California’s cling peaches. That made Del Monte one of the region’s biggest buyers…