Reedley highlight
Agricultural community in the San Joaquin Valley
Reedley became a center for wheat farming in 1888 and has remained a leading agricultural region, known today as the home of the world's largest plum and nectarine growers.
Reedley's roots in agriculture run deep. In the mid-1800s, Thomas Law Reed, a Civil War Union veteran, settled the area to provide wheat for Gold Rush miners. When Reed donated land for a railroad station in 1888, it established Reedley as a key trading hub in the San Joaquin Valley's booming wheat industry. As gold mining declined and the region's water supply was diverted for crop irrigation, the local economy shifted from wheat to fruit production.
Today, Reedley and its surrounding agricultural region produce stone fruits, grapes, raisins, and vegetables, with an international reputation for plums and nectarines. The Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, a 330-acre UC Davis facility dedicated in 1965, is located on Reedley's border and has become one of the largest research stations in the UC system. The center's 24 full-time scientists develop new fruit and nut varieties, irrigation practices, and pest management techniques that influence farming worldwide.
Agriculture shapes not just Reedley's economy but also the rhythms of family life—planting seasons, harvest times, and the work that binds household members together. For families in farming communities, life insurance protects the continuity of that work and the household it supports, covering the years when an injury or loss would threaten the operation that others depend on.