7-16-2025
Del Monte troubles shake up pear season
With harvest underway, California pear growers say there’s little doubt that crop yield has improved this year. Looking into the future, however, growers are grappling with uncertainty after Del Monte Foods, which operates one of two pear canneries left in the state, filed for bankruptcy this month. California pear growers typically ship more than half their crop to canneries, selling the rest as fresh fruit. Del Monte’s bankruptcy is “going to obviously cause some type of rebalancing” in the sector, said Alex Wilson, who grows pears for his family’s Rivermaid Trading Co. in Lodi. “There’s a giant question mark on what that rebalancing is going to look like.”
Abandoned crops bring pest plague to nearby farms
California farmers are sounding an alarm about a troubling symptom of the state’s struggling farm economy. With winegrape and almond prices less profitable in recent years and farmers in the San Joaquin Valley no longer allowed to burn discarded trees and vines, an increasing number of growers—unable to afford farming or removal costs—have simply walked away from their orchards and vineyards. Tens of thousands of acres have been abandoned, leaving neighboring farms to fight insects and rodents that spill over from the neglected trees and vines. “If you’re right next door, it’s pretty difficult,” said Michael Naito, who grows winegrapes, almonds and pistachios in Fresno and Madera counties.
Grasshopper damage, losses down as infestations decline
Grasshoppers and Mormon crickets, which in past years traveled great distances and destroyed tens of millions of dollars of Northern California crops, have emerged again this year, although farmers say there’s been a small reprieve. During the past several years, grasshopper populations were so thick that “the cows had their eyes shut walking across the meadows,” Plumas County rancher Susy Pearce said. The infestations forced her to spend upwards of $20,000 in pest control from 2021–2023. Pearce said she has seen some grasshoppers this year, “but nothing to panic about.”
Foundation provides programs and services for California farmworkers
Joe Garcia, president of the California Farmworker Foundation, founded the organization in 2016 to improve farmworkers’ quality of life. A child and grandchild of farmworkers, Garcia said he was motivated to start CFF after seeing a lack of political will to solve problems impacting farm employees. “This inspired me to establish a foundation aimed at addressing the needs of our farmworker communities,” he told Ag Alert®. Today, the biggest challenge facing California farmworkers, he said, is the federal government’s mass deportation program. “As an organization, our greatest responsibility is to continue standing alongside farmworkers and our communities, offering our support and education,” Garcia said. “We aim to be a reliable resource they can trust.”
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