After more than a century of operations, a Sacramento-based almond cooperative will close its historic Midtown manufacturing plant.
Blue Diamond Growers announced Friday it will transfer most of its operations to other facilities in Turlock and Salida. The move will occur in phases over the next 18-24 months starting with 10% of plant employees being let go later this year, according to Blue Diamond President and CEO Kai Bockmann.
Bockmann said in a release, “The challenges of running a plant from these historical buildings has become too costly and inefficient,” and that he had spoken to plant members Friday morning.
CapRadio visited the facility to speak with workers, but they declined to comment out of fear for their jobs.
Local leaders respond
Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum acknowledged that the closure will lead to many Sacramentans losing their jobs. The company says an estimated 600 employees will be affected by the closure.
“We haven’t had any analysis yet in terms of what that would mean for specific local impacts, but it’s always a bad day when anyone loses a job,” he said. “Blue Diamond is a place with really good longevity. They have generations of people that have worked there. It’s always heartbreaking when you aren’t able to continue those opportunities for folks.”
He applauded Blue Diamond for mitigating those impacts on their employees by giving them months to prepare.
In their announcement, the company said it will provide incentives for workers to stay during the transition, along with severance and outplacement services and the potential chance to work in other locations.
Regarding its historic Midtown plant, Bockmann says the building will be put up for sale. He said the site offers “many opportunities for prospective investors interested in developments and improvements.”
Pluckebaum expressed similar optimism about the property’s future, particularly looking at potential economic development and housing opportunities.
“You can imagine an infinite amount of interesting and creative, attractive uses, including other potential employment opportunities,” he said. “I think this is a rare opportunity to be able to be a part of the revisioning of what’s happening here.”
In a statement, Mayor Kevin McCarty thanked Blue Diamond for “115 years of partnership” and called the company “an iconic symbol of Sacramento’s history in the agricultural manufacturing industry.”
Cadena Farm
An almond tree at Cadena Farm in Esparto.Courtesy of Stephen Gordon
However, not everyone is happy about the move. Almond growers around the Sacramento region benefited from having a large buyer like Blue Diamond near them.
That includes Stephen Gordon, owner of Cadena Farm in Esparto. Cadena Farm has been in Gordon’s family for over 50 years. His grandfather opened the farm in 1971 and they’ve been selling almonds to Blue Diamond for three generations, so he wasn’t expecting the closure announcement.
“It’s going to be something that we’re going to have to wait and see,” he said. “The market’s so volatile right now.”
Gordon is anticipating almond growers in the Capay Valley, including him, will be impacted largely by increased distribution costs.
“The connection with the buyer and the farmer is going to change dramatically, especially with it going down to the Central Valley,” he said. “Suddenly, the backdrop has changed, the landscape has changed around us and that seems to be happening every day no matter what we do.”
Almonds are a top product of California’s agricultural industry. According to the Almond Board of California, the nut is the state’s #1 crop by acreage and its top agricultural export, valued at almost $5 billion. A forecast released by the U.S Department of Agriculture in April estimated that California’s estimated 2025 crop harvest will reach 2.8 billion pounds.
The organization says around 7,600 farms around the state grow almonds, 90% of which are family-owned like Cadena Farm.
Despite Blue Diamond’s impending departure, Gordon does not expect much to change in his region, known for its rich agricultural history and love for almonds. The Capay Valley holds its annual Almond Festival every February, which Gordon has helped organize for the last several years.
“It’s part of our heritage, part of our DNA,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re still going to be an ag town. We’re still going to have the best farms on the West Coast. We’re still going to be pushing out the best produce every day, every season.”
Economic development, housing
Barry Broome, president and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, said this news would have been devastating 10 years ago, if it weren’t for the city’s continued economic growth.
“Sacramento is in the top 10 in the United States now in growth, number seven in job performance,” he said. “These things don’t end up being losses when you’re working hard and growing your community the right way. I’m convinced this will be a success story for Sacramento.
Broome said the move to the Central Valley is largely because of the increased wages necessary to live in Sacramento, noting that many Blue Diamond workers were making around $25 an hour.
“If you’re in the Central Valley, you can find rents for $25 an hour,” he said. “In Sacramento, you got to make over $70,000 a year for you to comfortably manage living here.”
He’s excited about prospective developments that will bring higher-paying jobs, particularly for young people.
“We want people to make $94,000 in our town and we’re not hospitable to $25 an hour anymore,” he said.
Broome also said any real estate development project they work with would need to present some contribution towards housing in Sacramento.
“I think employers will be able to go to this site and their residents will be able to live there, and those residents will also be able to send their kids to a neighborhood school,” he said. “The short-term impact, as we understand it, should be graceful, and the long-term impact should be better for everyone.”
Blue Diamond confirmed with the economic council that they will keep their headquarters in Sacramento.
Blue Diamond’s Sacramento legacy
The California Almond Growers Exchange was formed in 1910, and was later renamed Blue Diamond Growers in 1980. (Courtesy of Blue Diamond Growers.)
Blue Diamond’s history in Sacramento dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. The company was originally founded as the California Almond Growers Exchange in 1910, the first successful grower-owned cooperative for marketing state-grown almonds.
According to the company website the Exchange built a receiving and packaging plant in Sacramento in 1914, and adopted the blue diamond symbol one year later. The cooperative officially changed its name to Blue Diamond Growers in 1980.
The company opened its Turlock manufacturing plant in 2013, which it called the largest single almond investment since the cooperative was organized in 1910. Blue Diamond later opened its Salida facility in 2019.
Blue Diamond Growers says it represents nearly 3,000 growers around the state, and employs around 1,400 people across all its plants and other locations.
Keyshawn Davis contributed reporting to this story.
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