USDA announces $9 million for cling peach tree removal

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last week it will make available up to $9 million to fund the removal of cling peach orchards by growers whose long-term contracts with Del Monte Foods were voided following the company’s bankruptcy and the closure of its cannery in Modesto. 

In business for 139 years, Del Monte contracted about 35% of California’s cling peaches last year, while Pacific Coast Producers, a grower-owned cooperative based in Lodi, contracted about 60% of the crop, with the rest purchased by a few smaller processors.

The funding from USDA will support the removal of up to 420,000 cling peach trees, or approximately 3,000 acres. 

“We’re grateful for the swift action taken to protect peach growers, the peach industry, their families and the rural communities that depend on this industry,” Rich Hudgins, president and CEO of the California Canning Peach Association, said in a statement.

Most of the state’s cling peaches are grown by family farms, many of which have grown the crop for three or four generations. Since 1969, the state’s bearing acreage declined from more than 63,000 to less than 14,000, according to USDA.

The tree removal program aims to address the economic harm facing producers who were left with no buyer for their fruit after investing thousands of dollars per acre to plant and maintain their orchards. It can take close to a decade for a farmer to pay off the initial investment, and Del Monte’s exit from the sector means many growers may never make their money back.

The aid package was announced after outreach to USDA by advocacy groups and California lawmakers.

“We appreciate our elected officials’ support in securing this funding,” said Shannon Douglass, president of the California Farm Bureau, which was among the groups that advocated for relief funds for cling peach growers. “It offers a glimmer of hope after a devastating period, ensuring California farmers can transition to new crops and stay on their land.”

Sutter County is the state’s top cling peach region, producing 106,000 tons of the crop in 2024 at a value of $66 million.

Sutter County peach grower Ranjit Davit, who chairs the peach association’s board of directors, said the USDA funding will make it easier for farmers to remove their peach trees and grow a different crop.

“Without it, we were looking at abandoned orchards and generational farming operations coming to an end,” Davit said. “We are deeply grateful to the USDA and our representatives for stepping in when it mattered most.” 

In this edition…

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• Warm, dry start of spring sparks fire season concerns
• Cultivate the future through agricultural education
• Recognize signs of distress and when help is needed
• From the Fields: Jeff Colombini, San Joaquin County cherry and apple grower
• From the Fields: Stuart Mast, Calaveras County vintner
• From the Fields: Loren Poncia, Marin County rancher
• From the Fields: Ron Macedo, Stanislaus County agritourism operator
• Hot temps, new varieties boost strawberry volumes
• Young farmers talk policies during Capitol advocacy visit
• Drought, water restrictions drive innovation in tech
• USDA announces $9 million for cling peach tree removal
• Advocacy in Action: Farm Bureau tracks labor bills, applauds Farm Bill House passage