If im reading the article right, it looks like the other major processor in the region (now the last one standing) is already organized as a growers cooperative. They have their own facility, and had the opportunity to buy the Del Monte one but decided against it. The bigger problem seems to be that national demand for canned peaches is declining while simultaneously imported peaches are out competing domestic ones for what market remains. To add insult to injury, the tarrifs on foreign steel have caused can prices to jump.