Peninsula mushroom farm closing (200 jobs) [View All]

[UpInArms]

http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~2538207,00.html

PESCADERO -- Mushrooms may be thriving at the Money's Pacific Mushroom Farm in Pescadero, but the mushroom business apparently is not.

Keith Potter, CEO of the Canada-based mushroom company, confirmed Monday that Money's will close its three U.S. operations: the farm in San Mateo County and two other plants in Michigan and Indiana.

This will likely mean the loss of more than 200 jobs at the huge commercial farm south of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, and a severe hit to the local agricultural economy. Last year, mushrooms accounted for more than $18 million of the county's nearly $30 million in vegetable-crop sales.

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First opened by the Campbell Soup Co. in 1957 -- the farm supplied mushrooms for the company's soups -- the farm was sold to a subsidiary, Vlasic, and then to Money's Mushrooms Ltd. in 2000.

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The closure comes at a particularly difficult time for workers, with the holidays near and with no new farming jobs available, said the Rev. Wendy Taylor, who works closely with the Latino community on the South Coast.

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