Trinitas Partners, the Bay Area investment firm that bought cattle land in Stanislaus County’s eastern foothills over a decade ago and then converted it to almond orchards, has declared bankruptcy. Trinitas made headlines when it was annexed into Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) and jumped ahead of local farmers who protested that its out-of-town owners were not serious farmers, but speculators who had their eyes on OID’s abundance of surface water.
“Just watch and see,” said one local farmer, “Trinitas is a ‘turn and burn’ operation. They claim to be farmers but they’re not in it for the long term.”
In 2014, Ryan Paton, spokesman for the firm, insisted Trinitas was in farming to stay.
“These are long-term investments for us,” Paton said. “We’re not short-termers. … We’re not flippers. Nothing we have is for sale.”
By the time it finished purchasing the cattle land in the rolling foothills east of Modesto, Trinitas had amassed over 7,000 acres. It then paid OID $20 million for annexation, adding another $11 million for infrastructure that would enable the new orchards to tap into OID canals.
Paton addressed fears that the huge acreage would deplete eastern foothills groundwater by arguing that he and his partners were confident they would have access to enough OID surface water to be able to serve their orchards without stressing the local aquifer.
“Next year, we’re going to irrigate over 50 percent of our orchards with OID water, and by 2016, we’ll be 95 to 97 percent dependent on it,” said Paton.
That was ten years ago. Since then, local farmers have insisted that Trinitas wells have run far more often than was promised, and contributed to lower groundwater levels both in and outside OID boundaries. During that same period, OID repeatedly sold so-called “surplus water” to buyers outside the region, usually to Westlands Water District.
In one of several ironies involving the ever-unfolding debacle, Trinitas Partners transferred most of its interest in the OID- serviced orchards to Pomona Farming a few years later. 99.5% of Pomona Farming is owned by a Canadian public sector pension fund. In its bankruptcy declaration, Trinitas said Pomona Farming is “unaffiliated with the Debtors or Trinitas Partners.”
Whatever the name, the giant almond orchard first planted by Trinitas Partners continues to draw down the aquifer. Local farmers are doubtless correct when they claim the over 7,000 acres of almond trees have been a major source of groundwater deficits in the Modesto Subbasin, deficits which were a factor in California’s Department of Water Resources rejection of the region’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan just last month.
Yet another irony involves OID water attorney Tim O’Laughlin, who served for one year as the water attorney for Mahi Pono, one of several names Trinitas uses for its ventures into farming outside OID boundaries. Mahi Pono operates in Hawaii, where many citizens believe the company was involved in an attempt to grab local water rights. O’Laughlin was a major player in the Trinitas annexation, which still rankles farmers who had for years tried to access OID surface water.
In their bankruptcy application, Trinitas cited falling almond prices, rising water rates, and high interest rates as driving forces in their inability to pay creditors. Those forces will continue to push farming operations over the edge throughout the Valley, as too many trees with too little water has proven a formula for failure. Many of those farms are owned by speculators like Trinitas.
Local farmers who opposed annexation of Trinitas into Oakdale Irrigation District could be saying, “We told you so.” Instead, most are working to help develop a sustainable plan for water use in the region. The drain on the aquifer in the Modesto Subbasin has become a major concern for everyone, farmers and city dwellers alike.
Not surprised. Almond prices have been crappy for awhile.
There were never enough honey bees to pollenate them either. Its crazy seeing the giant monoculture of almond trees going in to the east and west of the greater modesto area.
It’s 1983 all over again.
Pomona Farming is part of Trinitas just buried under layers of corp filings and LLC’s
Wow, great article again. Sure am glad Trinitas is BK, but likely not gone. I guess I better check in with Linda S on this, as unsure if Pomona is any better. Thanks for reporting this. Way back in 2016, I was advising 2 members of the OID Board and I reviewed the Trinitas contract with OID. There were some disturbing clauses in that contract, that were ‘coincidentally’ tied to the North County Corridor freeway. Now I am wondering if I can connect with the writer of this ‘paper’ to share some of that data?
Mr. Woods: You can always email us at [email protected].
I wonder if The Leader will do some investigative journalism on this subject. I doubt it. Maybe the Bee. Some of our local “farmers” and former OID Board members who played a part in the fiasco should be interviewed. Don’t let this die on the “vine”.
They did/are doing the same thing here on Maui. Thousands of acres of citrus with no demonstrated market, hundreds of acres of coffee but no processing facility. “Mahi Pono” translates to “to farm in a righteous way”. They are anything but. Monocrop, no windbreaks (“Oh…it’s windy here?”), acres of plastic weed mat, dust storms from tilling in high winds, and pesticide violations. Trying to wrestle water control.
MAHI PILAU….Farming in a Foul way ….So sad. WINDSURFING Capital of the World. It’s no secret if you heard of Maui. In the world we live in today, I guess we’ll see what happens. I see a lot of posts about the dust, and the bizarre choiced crops. Maybe they are just in over their heads? Are they really Farmers 😂?
Ironic. C&H was driven into the ground by local opposition and regulations. Now residents complain that the land isn’t being used properly and there is too much dust? LMAO. Kind of like SF suing grocery store chains for leaving their city after existing grocers get robbed and driven out of business. Welcome to market realities.
Same thing here on Maui. Mahi Pono, a subsidiary of the same corporation has acquired most of the ag land on the island with the peovision that they also aquire 100% of their predecessors water rights. The people of Maui opposed this provision,
but local politicians agreed to it. Their express purpose was to create a system of “diversified agriculture” that would produce locally consumed products. They basically planted tons of lemons and a bit of coffee within site of the major roads, but nothing in the fallow land out of sight. Nothing new has been planted for the last year or so. No products for local consumption have been produced since they took over. They then purchased a controlling stake in East Maui Irrigation, the other major water controlling entity on the island. Guess what happened to residential water costs? We were paying about $85/month. Now we pay $250/month. Thay are not an agribusiness, they are all about selling YOUR water back to you.