Stone Fruit Producer Ballantine Produce Closes Doors
May 12, 2009 One of the San Joaquin Valley’s best-known fresh fruit companies suddenly shut down this past week, the Associated Press reports. Ballantine Produce is closing three packing house locations – two in Reedley and one in Sanger.
Ballantine Produce was established back in 1943 to provide fresh fruit. The company specializes in peaches, plums, nectarines and grapes. Its sudden closure caught many by surprise.
This past Friday, the main Ballantine Produce packing house in Reedley was eerily silent. The loading docks were suddenly sitting empty. Outside of a lone forklift driver there was very little activity there. Ballantine also has a packing house in Sanger. The plant shut down Thursday afternoon. Company officials did not wish to comment.
Early peach varieties are now being picked so some growers are scrambling to find another packing house. Ballantine provides hundreds of jobs during the peak season so its closure strikes another blow to the valley’s dismal job market.
Barry Bedwell, the president of the California Grape & Tree Fruit League, says peach, plum and nectarine growers have struggled to turn a profit in recent years. Many growers have uprooted entire orchards to make room for another variety or a different crop. Bedwell has concerns about other packing houses suffering the same fate as Ballantine. However, Bedwell adds that other packing houses in the area will be accommodating the extra tree fruit which would have been packed at Ballantine.
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