USDA will make up to $9 million available to help California cling peach growers pull orchards left without a processing home after Del Monte Foods’ bankruptcy and the closure of its Modesto cannery.
The funding will support removal of up to 420,000 clingstone peach trees, or about 3,000 acres, before the 2026 harvest season, according to congressional offices that pushed for the aid. USDA’s analysis found that taking 50,000 tons of peaches out of production could save growers roughly $30 million in projected losses.
The California Canning Peach Association and California Farm Bureau welcomed the announcement, saying the tree removal program will help growers who were left under defunct long-term contracts after Del Monte filed for bankruptcy last year. The groups said the funding offers relief to growers facing severe economic hardship and uncertainty following the closure.
“We appreciate our elected officials’ support in securing this funding,” said California Farm Bureau President Shannon Douglass in a statement. “It offers a glimmer of hope after a devastating period, ensuring California farmers can transition to new crops and stay on their land.”
Rich Hudgins, CEO of the California Canning Peach Association, said the funding moved quickly enough to help growers before harvest decisions become unavoidable.
“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,” said Hudgins.
The crisis stems from the loss of a major processor for California’s cling peach sector. Del Monte’s Modesto plant had processed tens of thousands of tons of fruit from growers in the Central Valley and Sacramento Valley. The bankruptcy canceled 20-year grower contracts valued at more than $550 million, leaving about 74,000 tons of cling fruit unsold last year. Pacific Coast Producers, now the last remaining peach canner, offered one-year contracts for 24,000 tons, leaving roughly 50,000 tons without buyers.
The aid was secured after advocacy from Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Reps. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and David Valadao, R-Calif., and other members of California’s congressional delegation. Thompson said the funding is aimed at growers in Yuba and Sutter counties and surrounding regions, where multigenerational farms are trying to absorb the sudden loss of processing capacity.
