Shock Waves of Modesto Del Monte Plant Closure Hit Local Fruit Farms
March 12, 2026 | 1 min to read
Escalon farmer Richard Lial. (Photo Credit: Teisy Zavala-Cortez for The Modesto Focus)
Demise of 140-year-old fruit packer sends devastating ripples through support industries
By this time of year, Richard Lial’s Escalon peach trees – bursting with pink-white blossoms – should have been pruned.
Soon the blooms would need spraying, and he would feed all 105 acres with the water and fertilizer needed for his gorgeous summertime cling peaches.
Not this year, though.
None of that is worth doing, if your peaches are under contract with Modesto’s Del Monte Foods cannery. It’s closing, leaving Lial and many other peach, pear and apricot farmers out in the cold.
To read more, please visit The Modesto Focus.