Los Banos Rotary Club History
Veteran Melon Man Tells History Of Melon Industry

The finest cantaloupes in the world are grown in the Los Banos-Firebaugh area.

You've probably heard that statement made before . . and you can take the word of the veteran melon grower and packer, Phil T. Linn, that it is a fact! Linn, speaking before the local Rotary Club Tuesday noon, said there is something about the west side soil, climate and water that combines to produce melons of incomparable quality. As evidence of that fact, Linn pointed out that all crate labels prominently display the words "Los Banos" or "West Side."

Linn, owner of the Ritz Distributing Co. and grower, and packer of Los Banos melons for the past eight years, is one of the most experienced men in this highly specialized business. In addition to his operations in Los Banos, he grows and ships melons and vegetables at both El Centro and Yuma. He started in the business 40 years ago and has been in it ever since, through good times and bad.

Relating briefly the history of the cantaloupe and produce business as it is known today, Linn said the business of growing and shipping perishables is a fascinating, ever changing industry that was born and has grown up during his own lifetime. Back in the 1900s commercial melon growing was centered in Colorado; then moved to the Imperial Valley about 1915, where absence of winter frosts and unusually early spring growing weather enabled growers to market their crop in eastern markets many weeks ahead of home grown produce. By 1920, Linn said, the Imperial Valley was producing as high as 600 cars of melons a day at the peak of the season. These melons Linn, said, were packed as "green little gourds not fit to eat," in order that they might stand the long car ride to New York and other eastern markets. With gradual improvement of refrigerator cars, advent of pre-cooling and top-icing technique, and construction of numerous re-icing stations along the route east growers were able to pick a more nearly ripe melon, and today's melons represent the ultimate in quality and taste.

Another factor, Linn said, in the stabilization of the business as it is today, has been the change in marketing practices. In the early days growers and packers shipped their melons through eastern jobbers, at whatever price the jobber chose to pay on the other end. Today, Linn said, almost 90 per cent of the crop is sold for cash, f.o.b. shipping point.

Rolling Cars

The exception to the cash sale, Linn explained, is during periods of slack demand. Unable to find buyers for the melons the day they are packed, the packer must start the car eastward on his own, and endeavor to find a buyer before the car reaches the east coast. As the trip east takes several days there is generally no difficulty in finding a buyer somewhere enroute.

West Coast Consumer Gets Taste Cheated

Surprising to most of his listeners was Linn's statement that most California folks never have the opportunity to taste a really good cantaloupe. The reason most of them buy "culls" or "lettuce crate melons." The perfect melon, Linn believes, is picked just as it is turning color. Tests show that at that point the sugar content and flavor is at its peak, and soon afterward the melon, if left on the vine, begins to lose its sugar. These melons, too ripe for shipment east, are loose packed in lettuce crates and find a ready market on local markets at a reduced price.

Though such melons represent a tidy income to the grower and packer, Linn condemns the practice as unworthy of the industry, and, though he would be personally affected by the consequences too, he recommends that legislation be enacted whereby agriculture inspectors would be assigned to inspect and approve all melons that leave the field.

Commenting briefly on packing operations, Linn paid high compliment to a local competitor grower and packer, Azhderian Bros., saying that their pack was exceptionally good.

Pickers Underpaid.

Asked as to the status of the picker strike which partially stopped local operations for two days this week, Linn explained that the strike was satisfactorily settled, with a one cent a crate raise to the pickers and discontinuance, for this season, of a practice whereby two cents a crate was temporarily withheld from the picker until the end of the season. Reason for the withholding he said, was to insure that the picker remained on the job during the entire season instead of jumping about from one place to another.
As to the wages paid the pickers, Linn said it is the most underpaid job in the world, and because of the constant stooping, one that most agricultural workers shy away from.

August 29, 1952

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