USDA announces $9 million for cling peach tree removal
The U.S. Department of Agriculture an- nounced 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 bankrupt- cy 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 indus- try, their families and the rural communities that depend on this industry,” Rich Hudgins, president and CEO of the California Can- ning 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 gen- erations. 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 ad- dress 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 Cali- fornia 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 Da- vit, 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 aban- doned 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.”
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12 Ag Alert May 6, 2026
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