In the American state of California, farmers are preparing to destroy about 420,000 peach trees amid a crisis in the fruit processing industry. This is reported by the Independent.
The reason is the closure of Del Monte Foods' canning plants in the cities of Modesto and Hughson. The 139-year-old manufacturer has declared bankruptcy, leaving farmers without contracts that had been in place for decades, and hundreds of workers without jobs.
It is estimated that farmers may lose up to $550 million in income. To mitigate the impact of the crisis, authorities have allocated $9 million for uprooting trees and disposing of part of the harvest.
Officials believe that removing about 50,000 tons of peaches from the market will help avoid an oversupply of products and prevent additional losses for producers of around $30 million.
It is noted that part of Del Monte's assets has been acquired by Pacific Coast Producers, but it will only be able to process about half of the harvest. The remaining products have no buyers, forcing farmers to switch to other crops.
