Farmland photo by Melissa Sweeney

The Central San Joaquin Valley’s agricultural real estate market in 2025 showed a marked departure from the previous year, when massive portfolio liquidations — most notably Prima Wawona’s bankruptcy — flooded the market with distressed properties.

Top 3 Deals – 2025:

1. No. 1 – $16.3 million – 728 acres, almonds/water shares, Lemoore (Schuil Ag)
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3. No. 2 – $14.4 million – 1,886 acres, pistachios, Delano (AgriWealth)
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5. No. 3 – $13.0 million – 788 acres, almonds/open land, Delano (AgriWealth)
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Top 3 Deals – 2024:

1. No. 1- $47.5 million – 1,463 acres, plums/peaches, Sanger (Pearson Realty)
2.  
3. No. 2 – $45.5 million – 1,056 acres, pistachios, Kern County (Schuil Ag)
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5. No. 3 – $38.6 million – 1,102 acres, peaches/nectarines, Raisin City (Pearson Realty)
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Prima Wawona’s collapse weighed heavily on the 2024 list. Pearson Realty marketed nearly 14,000 acres from the bankrupt stone fruit company with a total list price of $370 million — what senior VP Dan Kevorkian called a “once in a lifetime” offering. Stone fruit properties appeared in 14 of the top 20 deals in 2024, many concentrated in Sanger and Raisin City where Prima Wawona operated.

By 2025, those large-scale liquidations had ended. The top transaction was $16.3 million compared to 2024’s $47.5 million peak, and no deals exceeded $17 million. Stone fruit largely disappeared from the top tier.

Pistachios emerged as the dominant crop, appearing in six of the top 20 transactions. In 2024, only two pistachio deals made the list. Almonds remained present in both years, though 2025 prices were more modest.

Water became explicitly valuable. The top 2025 sale included water shares in its description — a direct response to SGMA regulations that have reshaped how properties are valued.

The 2025 market showed more deals in the $3-7 million range compared to 2024’s concentration above $10 million. Transaction sizes normalized after the bankruptcy-driven surge, with buyers focusing on smaller, water-secured properties rather than large portfolio acquisitions.

Just missing the 2025 list dates was the sale of Mission Ranch in Southwest Fresno — 330 acres sold for about $14 million earlier this month, reported The Fresno Bee. The sale by the Assemi family marks its departure from almond and pistachio production.