Formation of Producer Exchanges in Santa Clara County · Before Silicon Valley

Packing Prunes at Del Monte Plant 51 Circa 1950

Title: Formation of Producer Exchanges in Santa Clara County
Description: Canners and growers formed producer exchanges or cooperatives in which groups of farmers producing the same type of crop collaborated to negotiate prices, hire labor, and access larger markets. In agriculture, these exchanges were characterized by ”horizontal integration,” in which companies of the same industry band together for harvesting, processing, and selling. Just as in Southern California citrus, Santa Clara County canners and growers formed a producer exchange in 1899. San José Fruit Packing Company (SJFPC) joined with seventeen other companies (including half of the canning establishments in California) to form the California Fruit Canners’ Association (CFCA), which eventually operated 28 fruit and vegetable canneries through the state and acquired operations in four other states. Within four years, CFCA was the world’s leader in fruit and vegetable canning and drying. By 1916 the CFCA had merged with five other canneries to form California Packing Corporation (CalPak), developing into the Del Monte Brand, the first national company in the United States, offering 50 products.

Cannery operations were large facilities, with warehouses, processing facilities, railyards, garages, shops, and offices, employing several hundred to several thousand people. As a regional hub for the food processing industry, local canneries received produce not only from the Bay area but from much of Northern and Central California. Historian Glenna Matthews states that by the 1930s Calpak was the largest canner in California and Santa Clara County had become the fruit processing capital of the world. This photo shows women packing prunes at Calpak Plant No. 51 on Bush Street, south of The Alameda.
Additional Online Information: Del Monte Packing Plant History
Identifier: B4SV Exhibit Topic Three: Slide 002

Site pages: Topic Three Gallery

Media: Packing Prunes at Del Monte Plant 51 Circa 1950