wide demand for dried plums through
trade promotion, consumer advertising,
education and research. Both programs
have operated continuously ever since.
While plantings peaked in 1929 and
continued to remain stable throughout the
war, by 1951 crop acreage had dropped
off. Gradual urbanization of Santa Clara
Valley greatly impacted the local farmer
whose livelihood depended on the harvest.
“In 1950, we were at our peak in Santa
Clara County, in terms of acres of prunes,
and there were 50,000 acres at that time.
And from there on it started to dwindle,”
Benassi said.
Proceeds from the harvest were the
farmer’s entire yearly earnings, and the
town’s well-being was equally dependent
62
on a successful harvest.
“I came here in 1959, as a senior in
high school, and we wanted to know
when school was going to start, and they
[the town] said, ‘when the prunes are
up’,” Joe Filice recalled.
“Back in those days, you could go
grocery shopping and they [the grocers]
would keep a tally of it, and you’d pay,
when you got paid for the prunes. They
worked with us to pay the bills,” Terry
Kickham Wolfe said.
Eventually the rise in labor costs
prompted the industry to replace pre-war
harvesting methods with more innovative
practices and equipment. Work previously
done by hand—shaking prunes from the
trees with a shaking pole, picking the
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
gmhtoday.com