Valley farmers lining up to acquire former Prima Wawona packing houses and cold storage
Update: Two of the former Prima Wawona packing facilities have been purchased by two longtime farmers as part of a joint venture partnership.
The fallout from the collapse of Prima Wawona, at one time the largest tree fruit grower in the nation, is still being felt as industry insiders worry that farmers could face a logjam of fruit at area packing houses this summer.
A powerhouse in the tree fruit industry, Prima Wawona grew tree fruit on more than 13,000 acres. At it’s peak, it produced 11 million boxes of peaches, plums and nectarines. It operated a cold storage facility and three packing houses staffed by hundreds of workers.
Although most of the acreage has been purchased by other tree fruit farmers, including a joint venture involving Moonlight Packing and Sun Pacific, it is still unclear if the packing houses will be leased or purchased and ready for the harvest.
A few early varieties of tree fruit are already being picked, with a bulk of the harvest expected to pick up steam by Mother’s Day, May 10.
One longtime tree fruit farmer, who asked not to be identified, said timing is everything in the tree fruit industry. And if the former Prima Wawona packing houses aren’t ready to roll in time for harvest, it could create a problem for farmers who have purchased thousands of additional acres of tree fruit.
“You could run into a situation where farmers have no place to pack their fruit,” the farmer said. “It could be a tough year.”
Some farmers are already talking about using high-pressure power washers to blast the buds off of late-season fruit varieties to reduce the potential for a bottleneck at the packing house.
Bankruptcy court records show a New York-based company, W.P. Carey, owns the three packing houses and is working to lease or sell the buildings. The total price tag for all four properties is $75 million.
Among those who have expressed interest in the properties, according to court records, include, Sun Pacific, Sun West, Titan Farms, Family Tree Farms, Fowler Packing, Taylor Orchards, Sun Valley Packing, and Sun World International.
Dan Gerawan, former chief executive officer Prima Wawona, has said very little about the bankruptcy, largely because he has a pending lawsuit against Paine Schwartz Partners.
The New York-based private equity firm took over Wawona Packing in 2017 and then two years later oversaw the merger of Gerawan Farming and Wawona Packing — two family-run companies with a combined history of 150 years in the Valley.
Gerawan, whose family founded the company in 1938, was fired in 2021 by Paine Schwartz Partners.
Recently, Gerawan spoke to The Fresno Bee about trying to quash rumors that he or his family are still involved in the company or any spin-off companies created after the collapse.
Gerawan plans to publish a statement in The Fresno Bee and The Produce News clarifying some of the “persistent misconceptions in the industry and community” since they sold the company four years ago.
Among the rumors Gerawan has heard is that he is involved in a farm labor contracting and staffing company that has set up shop in Reedley. He said Thursday that he has nothing to do with it.
“The last thing I want is for the employees to assume that I am involved in any of the new, or spin off companies,” he said Thursday.
When the company folded in the spring, it laid off more than 5,400 workers. At the time, he said he felt badly for the longtime workers who helped make the operation one of the biggest in the business.
“The Gerawan family and our companies haven’t been part of running Prima Wawona for the past three years, nor have we been involved with the successors that came after its bankruptcy,” Gerawan wrote in his statement. “The decision to abandon the practices that brought our company success for decades was made solely by the new owner. Watching this unfold was just as shocking and upsetting to us as it was to many of you.”
