To be fair, Shartsis said, the loss of the growers' equity should be balanced out by money they made over the years selling their crops to Tri Valley. Tomato farmer Dave Schulze only wishes Famalette had accomplished what he predicted for the co-op. He made a very good case. I really had a lot of faith in him. For now, the growers say they have little time to think about their lost investments.
Profits are out of the question, the farmers say.
It's a matter of how big their operating losses will be. Next year presents even more uncertainty for these Tri Valley growers. The co-op has financing to get through this year's processing but is expected either to be sold or dismantled before next year. Tri Valley doesn't have the financing for 2001. Fresno Bee staff writer Dennis Pollock contributed to this report.