Fresno County Almond Ranch Sells for $2.5M to Family Farming Company

Central Valley Ag Partners Ranch 7 LLC, an agricultural investment firm based in Newport Beach with a Fresno office, sold a 152-acre almond ranch on Fresno County's westside to Russell Avenue Ranch LLC for $2.5 million, the latest sign that investor appetite for almond acreage in the region remains strong.

Russell Avenue Ranch LLC is described as a family owned farming company. The transaction closed on Feb. 26 and was among 10 farmland sales recently recorded across the Central Valley, according to Williamson Act land transfer records.

Central Valley Ag Partners describes its strategy as working to "selectively acquire, develop, and farm almond, pistachio and citrus orchards that we believe will deliver above-average crop yields and provide attractive returns to our investors." The sale of the westside ranch represents the firm exiting one of its named holdings, Ranch 7, while the buyer takes on the land under Williamson Act terms that bind the new owner to keep it in farming or open space for 10 years in exchange for property tax reductions.

The late-February roundup of Fresno County farmland transactions captured a wide range of deal sizes. The most notable by acreage was a 738-acre parcel in east Fresno County that sold for $2.5 million to Daniel Holdings 2 LLC on Feb. 20. That transaction involved multiple sellers from the Lough and Galindo family trusts, with three parcels of 160, 154, and 424 acres recorded under a single estimated sale price. Other deals in the same stretch included a 38-acre parcel sold by Palminder Pal to Jugraj Singh for $925,000 on Feb. 19, and a 31-acre property transferred from David A. Rocha to Scott and Charlyse Raven for $867,500 on the same date.

Every parcel in the roundup fell under the Williamson Act, California's primary mechanism for preserving agricultural land. Landowners who enroll receive tax assessments based on farming income rather than market value, but commit to keeping the land out of development for a decade. A new buyer steps into that same obligation at closing.

The westside almond market has drawn sustained attention from institutional buyers and private equity-backed operations in recent years, even as some larger ventures have struggled. Trinitas Farming LLC, an Oakdale-based company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Feb. 19 after accumulating $188 million in debt across 17 almond ranches totaling 7,856 acres in Fresno, Tulare, San Joaquin, Contra Costa and Solano counties. The company had been preparing to harvest its first crop when it ran out of money. Graham & Associates, a Visalia real estate firm, is handling the sale of Trinitas's almond holdings; managing partner Bradley Bickers noted that institutional investors have expressed interest in the ranches.