—story and photos by Ross Courtney

A road-topped levee separates the Sacramento River and a 90-year-old pear orchard in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, an agricultural region of California that sits east of the San Francisco Bay and is full of islands and sloughs. (Ross Courtney/Good Fruit Grower)
A road-topped levee separates the Sacramento River and a 90-year-old pear orchard in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, an agricultural region of California that sits east of the San Francisco Bay and is full of islands and sloughs. (Ross Courtney/Good Fruit Grower)

A road-topped levee separates the Sacramento River from Robert Arceo’s orchard. His soils are dense, fertile and damp. Ocean breezes moderate afternoon heat, while humidity mitigates frost.

Pears love the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a growing region of sloughs and islands with roots in the California Gold Rush.

But there’s no rush now. Despite favorable conditions, pear acreage has declined, the number of growers is down to about 60, and after a pandemic bump in canned produce demand, the state’s two remaining canneries are accepting less volume.

“It will affect the economies here,” Arceo said. “There’ll be a lot of orchards that will have to be abandoned or torn out.” 

The second-generation grower, known for rootstock and variety trials, is so frustrated he has started growing avocados. He also has more cherries than pears now, while other growers are diversifying with peaches, wine grapes and almonds.

“People are looking for all kinds of alternatives,” said James Christie, an orchardist in the Delta, which the California industry dubs the River District, a reference to both the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers.

Robert Arceo, a Delta grower, discusses his maturing Bartlett pears in mid-July during the International Fruit Tree Association summer tour through California. (Ross Courtney/Good Fruit Grower)
Robert Arceo, a Delta grower, discusses his maturing Bartlett pears in mid-July during the International Fruit Tree Association summer tour through California. (Ross Courtney/Good Fruit Grower)
A map showing California's largest pear production area, known as the River District, along the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers in Central California. (Source map: U.S. Geological Survey; Graphic: Ross Courtney and Jared Johnson/Good Fruit Grower)
A map showing California’s largest pear production area, known as the River District, along the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers in Central California. (Source map: U.S. Geological Survey; Graphic: Ross Courtney and Jared Johnson/Good Fruit Grower)

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Canneries

The River District is the largest and earliest of California’s three pear regions, ahead of Lake and Mendocino counties north of San Francisco. All rely heavily on cannery volume — though, as in the Northwest, the fresh and cannery markets go hand in hand. 

The fresh market pays off early in the season, before much fruit has reached retail shelves. Arceo is the field representative manager for Rivermaid Trading Co. of Lodi, a packer and sales desk.

The enthusiasm wanes after a week or two, sending growers back to the stability of canneries, where growers have a mixture of year-to-year and long-term contracts.

Canned fruit in general has faced tough competition for decades, both from year-round availability of fresh produce and from imports produced in countries with lower labor costs. The state’s two pear canneries, Del Monte Foods and Pacific Coast Producers, pay union wages. 

The pandemic caused a temporary boom for canned produce, as anxious shoppers stocked up their pantries. From 2021 to 2023, canned pear sales soared. “Demand even exceeded supply for the first time in my career,” said Christie, who negotiates contracts on behalf of California Pear Growers. Prices rose accordingly. 

That demand has since dropped.

This year, Del Monte Foods requested growers deliver 45 percent less volume than their contracts stipulate, and the company even bought out a few contracts to help reduce inventory, said Arceo, who delivers to Del Monte. To accommodate the reduction, growers are trying to send more pears to the fresh market or are picking less. Poor pollination weather this year cut the crop by about 20 percent.

About 60 percent of Arceo’s Hailey Red pears, a chance sport of Red Bartlett, goes to the fresh market, a departure in the area that normally relies on canneries. (Ross Courtney/Good Fruit Grower)
About 60 percent of Arceo’s Hailey Red pears, a chance sport of Red Bartlett, goes to the fresh market, a departure in the area that normally relies on canneries. (Ross Courtney/Good Fruit Grower)

Del Monte issued this statement from Rob Cubbage, vice president of operations: “Over the last year, we have seen a reset in consumer behavior and demand, realigning with pre-COVID levels. As a result, our fresh pack plan across all crops is smaller than in prior years. We’ve been working closely with our growers to plan ahead.”

(By “fresh pack,” Cubbage refers to Del Monte’s processing of freshly picked produce.)

Pacific Coast Producers, a cooperative with a pear cannery in Oroville, felt the pandemic spike and fall, said Aaron Smith, vice president of field operations. But he still considers canned pears a reliable and consistent outlet for growers, when compared to the eccentricities of the fresh market, even if the industry is half the size it was 30 years ago. 

“We think it’s sustainable at the levels we’re currently buying,” Smith said.

In this photograph from the early 20th century, a pear-laden schooner makes its way to San Francisco along Steamboat Slough, an alternate branch of the Sacramento River. (Courtesy Chuck Baker)
In this photograph from the early 20th century, a pear-laden schooner makes its way to San Francisco along Steamboat Slough, an alternate branch of the Sacramento River. (Courtesy Chuck Baker)

History

Delta pears trace their history to the California Gold Rush, when farmers planted orchards along the riverbanks to provide fresh fruit for prospectors. Boats ferried fruit to Sacramento or San Francisco. Levees and dams put a stop to frequent flooding. Fruit box labels in the 1920s depicted paddleboats, while an RV park today is named Cannery Landing. 

It was one of the earliest instances of commercial-scale fruit production in the country.

Since then, the Delta has become an environmental hot button. Its water has been pumped to cities and farms all over California. Many of the islands have sunk below sea level, while the reduction of inflows sometimes allows brackish water to creep upstream from the San Francisco Bay. 

Delta farmers, including Arceo, have pushed back against a proposal to route even more river water under the wetlands to California’s more drought-prone southern region.

Growers

The farm of Chuck Baker, a fifth-generation Sutter Island grower on the banks of Steamboat Slough, has trees nearing 160 years old.

The former Rivermaid manager has modernized by replanting two trees every time he has to remove one, cutting the traditional 16- by 16-foot spacing in half. Older trees keep their open vase training system originally pruned by Chinese laborers a century ago. The replants get two upright leaders, which he believes distribute light more evenly.

While Baker appreciates history, he’s unsure about the future. His son feels an emotional pull to the farm, but Baker has been advising his son to keep his lawyer job.

“It’s looking a little tough in the pear industry right now,” he said.

Rachel Elkins, a retired University of California Cooperative Extension specialist, discusses pear rootstocks with the IFTA crowd at Arceo’s farm. Winter Nelis and Old Home by Farmingdale 97 are the favorites on the river, though Arceo has participated in Elkins’ trials. (Ross Courtney/Good Fruit Grower)
Rachel Elkins, a retired University of California Cooperative Extension specialist, discusses pear rootstocks with the IFTA crowd at Arceo’s farm. Winter Nelis and Old Home by Farmingdale 97 are the favorites on the river, though Arceo has participated in Elkins’ trials. (Ross Courtney/Good Fruit Grower)

Arceo, who farms near Courtland, uses a mixture of traditional and progressive horticultural techniques in his pear orchards. 

He does not find platforms efficient on his small parcel and 18-foot by 20-foot spacing. Efficiency is also the reason for maintaining full sprinklers instead of drip or micro irrigation. 

He has tried out newer rootstocks but sticks with traditional Winter Nelis and Old Home by Farmingdale 97. 

On the other hand, he measures his fruit growth rates with dendrometers to estimate his harvest dates, has soil moisture sensors connected to his phone and hires drones to search for missing or dying trees.

Fire blight is his biggest headache. He has spent $2,000 per acre to cut out blight-stricken branches, sometimes well into October.

To cope with the changing economics, Areco is diversifying. Bartlett is the region’s king, but he also has Bosc and Hailey Red, a deep-red, chance sport of Red Bartlett that resists oxidation after slicing and sells well fresh. 

He keeps a small block of more than a dozen pear varieties, including Reddy Robin, that he sells in three Bay Area farmers markets. He also has 60 acres of cherries — he’s even hosted NC-140 cherry rootstock trials for the national evaluation group — but his region falls late enough to conflict with the Northwest harvest. So, he’s taking a risk on avocados.

“Everybody asks, ‘What do I do now? What do I plant?’” Arceo said. •