Fresno County farmer gives away 182,000 pounds of nectarines for free

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Set us as preferred In the midmorning heat, hundreds of people lined up outside a San Joaquin Valley farm this week to get their haul from large blue bins filled with thousands of bright red nectarines.The fruit was free for the taking.“It was going to rot on a tree again, and I said let’s give it away,” said farmer Cesar Mora.

“Let’s let people at least enjoy it, because I take pride in what I do.”Mora has been mired in a contract dispute with Giumarra Brothers Fruit Co.revolving around his nectarine crop for the last few years.

He and the large L.A.-based produce company have dueling legal complaints over a contract delineating how the fruit was to be marketed and sold.As a result, Mora says he can’t sell the fruit, and so he decided on the mega-giveaway of more than a hundred thousand pounds of white-flesh nectarines.

The giveaway outside the small town of Reedley ran from Monday to Friday.People traveled to the farm in large groups, toting bags to collect the nectarines.For more than 30 years, Mora has farmed in Central Valley.

He grew up learning how to grow and harvest stone fruit, with the dream of one day owning his own farm.But it has been challenging to get the financing.“So I’ve had to do this kind of on my own,” Mora said.

“I rented a ranch about 10 years ago.” On those rented 50 acres, Mora grows three varieties of plums, as well as peaches and nectarines.The Monalise nectarines affected by the legal dispute make up about 15% of the farm, he said.

In a statement responding to Mora’s “No Nectarines Wasted” campaign, Giumarra Bros.Fruit Co.

said: “At its heart, this is a disagreement involving two written agreements, and it is being resolved the right way — in court and on the facts.”Mora said he didn’t want all that fruit to be wasted so opted for the giveaway.On the firs...