40 Years of Reducing Risk for Farmers

YUBA CITY, CA, April 25, 2008 - Members of the Prune Bargaining Association are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of the organization. To mark the occasion members will hear from several speakers on how to prosper in a changing world and times of rapidly rising costs by reducing risk and using cooperative methods to improve grower returns. Read full text...

Price Settled on 2007 Crop

April 2008 - The Prune Bargaining Association has reached a price agreement on the 2007 crop with 10 processors representing nearly 80% of the commercially purchased tonnage. The agreement provides an average price to most growers of $1,400 to $1,500 per ton depending on size and quality. 2007 Price schedule

2007 California Prune Crop Estimate

Sacramento, CA, June 1, 2007 - The California Agricultural Statistics Service announced a 2007 dried plum crop estimate of 95,000 tons. This estimate would represent a 49% drop from the 2006 California crop reported by handlers to total 187,737 tons and would be 29% below the previous five year average of 134,535 tons. This will be the 3rd year in the last four years that unseasonably hot weather during the March bloom period will have resulted in a significantly below average crop.

While the July 31, 2007 year-end inventory carryover is expected to be significantly larger than last year’s 22,140 tons, much of the carryover is likely to be in the smaller sizes. This combined with another small crop in 2007 will result in an inadequate supply of the prime pitting sizes.

Prune Farmers Request State Conciliation

NEWS RELEASE, Dec. 14, 2007 - The Prune Bargaining Association has requested that the Department of Food and Agriculture convene a multi-party conciliation with each of the 14 commercial buyers of members' products to resolve price and contract terms for the 2007 crop year. Because of the crop and market difficulties faced by growers and processors, negotiations have dragged on well past harvest and the beginning of the market year. At issue is the establishment of uniform prices and terms of trade for prune farmers through negotiated contracts with processors. Read full text...

Foreign Prune Production Down

YUBA CITY, CA, December 15, 2006 - The Chilean crop is expected to be down from last year’s 50,000 metric tons to about 42,000 metric tons, according to sources attending the International Prune Association’s Executive Meeting last month in Chile. The IPA has posted a forecast of 45,000 metric tons for Chile.

In Argentina, the USDA Foreign Ag Service reports expected production of about 37,000 metric tons for the 2007 crop. In 2006, total production of fresh plums reached 115,000 metric tons.  Total production destined for processing was 105,000 metric tons and production of dried prunes was estimated at 35,000 metric tons.

Access the USDA Global Ag Info Network (GAIN) Reports: Chile 2006, Argentina 2006 for details of prune production, domestic consumption, stocks, exports, prices and industry background.