Royal Ann cherry growers, for the second successive year, were forced to accept ruinous prices for their crop and looked forward to organizing a strong cherry growers union in preparation for next year.

In the Sebastopol area, growers experienced a "lockout" when their demands for a six cent a pound price was met with a refusal of canners to buy.

Against the ultimatum of "leave 'em on the trees" and the absence of competitive bidding by the processors the farmers were forced to accept the offered price of 4 cents a pound. In many cases a 25% dockage brought the actual payments down to around one cent a pound.

Sentiment of the growers was pretty well summed up by Bill Thompson, Santa Rosa grower, who said, "We'll either have to get cost of production or make the government operate the sheds if we expect to stay on our ranches after next year."

In the San Jose region the situation was practically the same. Efforts of growers to win the six cent price were met with the same refusal by the canners and processors. Four cents was the price set by the buyers and the majority of the crop went at that figure. The tail end of the crop brought 4½ cents in some areas however and a ten dollar allowance was made some growers for shipment into San Francisco.

Immediate plans were laid for the building of a cherry growers union. Feeling that another year of such prices would spell the end of all California cherry growers, the San Jose farmers began the building of a strong organization which next year would encompass the entire crop. Despite the effects of failure in this year's attempts, 36 growers had already signed to join the union and were pledged to expand the organization as rapidly as possible.

Figures computed in Napa county estimated that cherry growers this year suffered a loss of $50,000 and that over 600 tons of fruit was left to rot on the trees.

At the same time citizens of North San Juan in Nevada county were staging their 28th annual cherry festival. Free cherries, all you can eat, was one of the attractions that must have appealed to visitors; but was little comfort to growers who were beginning to realize that all cherries seemed to be free cherries.

The Rural Observer

Published by
THE SIMON J. LUBIN SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA, INC.
25 California Street, San Francisco, Calif.; Phone EXbrook 2510
5c per Copy; 50c per Year
Vol. 2, Number 2, page 3