After Fresno, Calif.-based stone fruit producer Prima Wawona announced in October it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with more than $600 million in debt, the company put its farmland on sale at a value of $370 million following an unsuccessful attempt to liquidate assets, which included nearly 13,500 acres of farmland through an auction in January.
Now, The Fresno Bee reports only 1,300 of the 13,500 acres of farmland remain for sale.
The Bee reports Sun Pacific, a grower, shipper and wholesaler of Cuties mandarins, kiwifruit, navel oranges, grapes and lemons, and Moonlight Cos., a stone fruit, pomegranate, table grape, lemon, kiwifruit and Cuties grower, shipper and wholesaler in Reedley, Calif., formed a joint partnership to purchase 5,000 acres of the farmland valued at $91 million.
The Bee reports the joint venture plans to keep a majority of the acres in tree fruit.
“I’ve always looked at the headwinds as opportunities,” Moonlight Cos. owner Russ Tavlan told The Bee. “Although we have seen a retraction in the California stone fruit industry over the decades, I believe we have been able to successfully navigate it because we are good at what we do.”
Prima Wawona became the largest stone fruit grower in the country following the acquisition of Gerawan Farming in 2019. Wawona also added the stone fruit breeding assets of Burchell Nursery in 2018.
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