Harris Ranch, buyer quiet on details but stress family-owned roots in wake of sale

The sale of Harris Ranch Beef Co., a well-known brand in San Joaquin Valley business and agriculture built up over decades, to Hanford-based Central Valley Meat Co. seems to have come as a surprise to many observers. Some key questions about the deal remain unanswered. The two companies declined to reveal the price and terms of the sale in their April 9 announcement. And there’s been no disclosure about why John Harris, whose parents Jack and Teresa Harris established Harris Ranch in 1937, is selling the beef operations – including a slaughterhouse and processing plant near Selma and the Harris Feeding Co. feedlot near Coalinga. The Harris Ranch Beef website states that the company has more than $400 million in annual sales; it also notes that the feedlot of almost 800 acres along Interstate 5 in western Fresno County has a capacity of up to 250,000 cattle. The sale does not include other Harris Farms enterprises: the Harris Ranch Inn and Restaurant off Interstate 5 near Coalinga; Harris Farms’ horse division with ranches in Coalinga and Sanger; and farming operations for a range of crops including nuts, vegetables, citrus and grapes...MORE