Hollister
– Mark Gibson has known his family’s apricot orchard along
McCray Street all of his life, but he could hardly stomach seeing
it Monday afternoon.
Hollister – Mark Gibson has known his family’s apricot orchard along McCray Street all of his life, but he could hardly stomach seeing it Monday afternoon.
That’s because the Gibson family’s original 30-acre orchard, planted 60 years ago by Mark’s father, Marion Gibson, is no more.
In just two days of work, a backhoe ripped out the orchard at McCray and Sunnyslope Road to make way for the coming Highway 25 bypass project and commercial and residential developments.
And although Gibson has known the orchard would be demolished for more than a decade, seeing the uprooted trees was difficult.
“It made me sick to look at it,” Gibson said after seeing it for the first time Monday.
The bypass will hook into the existing portion of Highway 25 at the intersection of Sunnyslope and Airline Highway.
Only eight acres of Gibson’s land was needed for the bypass. However, the new highway, along with an expansion of East Park Street, will cut the 30-acre orchard property into three parcels, making it almost impossible to farm, Gibson said.
For Gibson, who owns more orchards and a walnut processing plant off Buena Vista Road with his brother Gilbert, the decision to level the entire orchard was simple economics.
With pressure from the Turkish apricot market, local growers have had a difficult time staying afloat during the past decade, Gibson said.
The Gibsons are planning residential development to the east of the bypass route and commercial development to the west.
Gibson and his brother decided in September that the July 2006 harvest would be the last for the original orchard.
Construction of the bypass will begin in May, said Mary Dinken, San Benito County transportation planning manager. The construction contract has been put out for bid.
Dinken would not comment on how much the county will pay the Gibsons for the bypass space.
“We haven’t reached a final agreement on the purchase of the property,” Dinken said.
Supervisor Anthony Botelho, an orchardist who also serves on San Benito County Council of Governments’ board, said Monday he was sad to see the apricot orchard go. But he said there are higher and better uses for Gibson’s land. Development of the orchard land will open up opportunities for other businesses, he said.
“It’s kind of the sign of the times,” Botelho said.
But Gibson hopes future development in the county will look to preserve prime farm land.
“We need to have creative ways to preserve land for future generations,” Gibson said.
San Benito County Agricultural Commissioner Paul Matulich said the county loses apricot trees every year due to economic pressures. In 2001, there were 1,439 acres of apricots in San Benito County. In 2005, that number had dropped to 1,137.
“It’s a vanishing breed,” Matulich said. “It’s not going to be too long before we don’t have any apricots at all.”
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or mv*********@fr***********.com.
