What to know about Fresno farmer’s nectarine giveaway amid lawsuit with

Reedley farmer Cesar Mora is giving away his white-flesh nectarines rather than let them rot during a second harvest season disrupted by a legal fight with Giumarra Brothers Fruit Co. The third-generation grower and the produce giant are locked in dueling lawsuits over a 2017 contract to grow an exclusive variety called the Monalise.

FULL STORY: Fresno County farmer giving away his fruit amid legal dispute with produce company

Here are key takeaways:

• The contract: Mora signed a 2017 agreement to grow the Monalise, a white-flesh nectarine marketed as a proprietary variety. He says he was recruited with the promise of premium sales and a $1,000-per-acre incentive in exchange for paying royalty fees and other costs tied to the program.
• Giumarra’s claim: The company sued Mora for breach of contract, alleging he broke the deal by sending his fruit to another packer. Giumarra said in a statement it is committed to “honoring our contractual obligations, and safeguarding the proprietary programs that provide value to our grower partners.”
• Mora’s cross-complaint: Mora alleges unfair business practices, fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary duty. He says the promised premium sales never materialized and that more than half of the fruit he sent to the packing house was being culled — far above the roughly 15% industry average cited by his attorney Zena Sin-Zaragoza of Chapman Zaragoza, LLP.
• Backdoor sales claim: Mora alleges that he saw someone at the packing house collecting culled fruit and selling it to a third party and that he never received payment or reports on what happened to that fruit.
• Patent dispute: Mora says he was told the Monalise was a patented, exclusive variety that required a contract to plant. He alleges he later discovered the nectarines are not patented with any U.S. or European authority, meaning they are not exclusive to Giumarra.
• What’s next: With trial set for next month, Mora says other packers have refused to handle his fruit to avoid getting drawn into the dispute. He is giving away the nectarines through nonectarineswasted.com and on TikTok and Instagram until they are gone.

This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence based on our own originally reported, written and published content. Before publishing, journalists reviewed this content in compliance with McClatchy Media’s AI policy.