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The bidding process on a South Valley pistachio orchard will close today at noon, with the buyer to be named following the closure of the escrow process.

The Reddy Pistachio Orchard near Alpaugh and Delano with a minimum suggested bid starting at $6,968,430 ($3,500/acre).

It spans 1,990.98± assessed acres with 1,886± acres of pistachios.

“This property is priced in a way that should attract people from a risk standpoint and also should still provide opportunity for someone to either come in and buy it and then go buy extra land to use the water on this property, or buy this property and figure out where the best parts are of the ranch,” Sullivan Grosz the president of the ag division at Pearson Realty said.

Grosz said that pistachio orchards in California often vary in price, with premium orchards in high-production areas for $40,000 per acre or more.

The Tri-County GSA has limited surface water supplies, forcing local growers to rely on groundwater pumping. However, new regulations require a reduction in pumping to achieve long-term sustainability, meaning some farmland may become less productive.

The bidding for the orchard was a sealed bid, meaning buyers submit their bid confidentially.

“[We wanted] to give buyers a timeline to come forward with their offers and set a clear timeline of… accepting bids on this certain date, and it just provides a little bit more of a clear timeline instead of the traditional sales process that can drag out a little longer,” Grosz said.