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A California farmer gave away about 125,000 pounds of ripe nectarines, drawing such large crowds that the free fruit giveaway had to be temporarily shut down (1) over safety concerns.
Cesar Mora, who says he was blocked from selling his crop (2), is a third-generation farmer in Reedley. He said he decided to give away the fruit after an ongoing legal dispute (3) left him unable to bring his white nectarines to market for a second consecutive season. Rather than watch the fruit go to waste, he invited the public to pick it for free.
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“I should be picking them right now, but I’m not all due to a giant ag corporation that has been preventing me from doing anything with this crop,” he said in a video posted to his Facebook page (4).
At the center of the dispute is a years-old contract with one of California’s largest fruit marketers. Mora alleges (3) the company falsely claimed it had exclusive rights to the nectarine variety he grows, while the company says he violated a valid agreement by selling the fruit elsewhere. The lawsuit remains ongoing.
Why couldn’t he sell his own nectarines?
Mora signed a 2017 agreement to grow and sell the Monalise white nectarine variety through Giumarra Brothers Fruit Co., which says (2) it holds rights to the variety through a sublicense from French company Star Fruits Diffusion.
Under the agreement, Mora was required to sell the fruit only through Giumarra. But he now alleges (2) the company misrepresented its rights to the variety and has not provided the licensing documentation he says would prove its claims.
After Mora ended the relationship in 2023 and sold to another packer, Giumarra sued him (3) for breach of contract. Mora countersued, accusing the company of unfair practices and arguing that he was misled.
A judge has ruled that the agreement remains valid regardless of the patent status, according to the Associated Press (3).
Giumarra’s attorneys told KSEE/KGPE (2) that the company remains committed to “honoring our contractual obligations” and “safeguarding the proprietary programs” that support its grower partners.
Mora has said the fight has put his future in farming at risk. Instead of letting the crop fall to the ground, he launched a giveaway under the name “No Nectarines Wasted.”
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Legal fights aren’t the only reason farmers struggle
Mora’s case centers on a contract dispute over a proprietary fruit variety. But it highlights a broader systemic problem facing some California growers: Farmers can produce healthy, edible crops and still find themselves without a viable path to market.
Moneywise recently reported on California farmer Sarb Johl, who prepared to rip up 9-year-old peach trees worth an estimated $12,500 per acre after Del Monte Foods’ bankruptcy left growers without enough processing capacity.
That collapse left peach farmers facing long-term contracts and a sharply reduced buyer pool, with only about 24,000 tons of the 74,000 tons previously delivered expected to find a home.
The fallout was serious enough that the USDA approved up to $9 million (5) for a clingstone peach tree removal program after California lawmakers requested federal help.
Mora’s dispute involves intellectual property and contract law, while the peach growers were hit by the loss of a major processor. Both situations show how farmers can invest years into producing a crop only to find that the final hurdle is not growing the fruit — it’s finding a legal and financially viable way to sell it.
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Article Sources
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Your Central Valley (1), (2); AP News (3); Facebook (4); Schiff Senate (5)
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