Come Take My Nectarines, Farmer Says

San Joaquin Valley growers are in peak harvest mode—except on Cesar Mora's 7.5-acre nectarine orchard, where the California farmer said he's giving his crop away rather than let it rot during a bitter contract fight. Mora, a third-generation grower, has turned to TikTok, Instagram, and a website, nonectarineswasted.com, to invite the public to pick up his white-flesh Monalise nectarines at no charge. "I hate to see good fruit go to waste," he said, per the Fresno Bee. Mora is locked in dueling lawsuits with Giumarra Brothers Fruit Co., one of the nation's largest produce companies.

Giumarra says he breached their 2017 agreement by sending fruit to a different packer. Mora has countersued, accusing Giumarra of unfair business practices, fraud, and breaching a fiduciary duty. He alleges his nectarines were culled at rates around 50%—far above the roughly 15% industry norm cited by his attorney—and then sold without him being paid or informed. He also contends he was misled about the fruit being a patented, exclusive variety, which his complaint says it is not. Giumarra said it stands by its contracts and its "proprietary programs" and notes that litigation is ongoing, with a trial set for next month. "These are my white flesh nectarines that I've been growing for the last 10 years," Mora says in an Instagram post, per KFSN. "I should be picking them right now, but I'm not."