This story is part of our October 2025 issue. To read the print version, click here.

When Earl Gorman Taylor planted his first plum tree on the 70 acres he bought in Sutter County in 1916, he could never imagine that his grandson Richard would one day turn it into a global empire. That’s exactly what Taylor Brothers Farms is now — the world’s largest producer and global distributor of organic prunes and prune products. Taylor Brothers Farms sells its organic prunes grown in Yuba City to countries all over Europe and Asia, with processing plants in Poland and South Korea.

As for that grandson, Richard Taylor, he’s traveled to more than 100 countries, including China, Taiwan, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and many others building his enterprise. He’s been to Japan a whopping 70 times!

“One day I came back from a trip, and I got out my three passports. I started going through the stamps and just making checks on a notepad beside my chair. Before COVID, it was probably over 65, and I’ve been back two or three times since then,” Richard says.

So how did the farm grow so exponentially? Let’s start from the beginning. Earl Taylor and his wife, May, cleared out oak trees and planted peaches and prunes in the early 1900s. (The variety of plums grown for prunes was brought to California by French brothers in the mid-1850s.) Richard’s father, George Earl Taylor, a World War II veteran who served in the Marines, bought the farm from his father in the late 1940s. Unfortunately, the farm was flooded out by the devastating Sutter County Christmas flood in 1955 that produced 31 inches of rain and killed 74 people. The family had to start over.

Related: The Power of Plums

Despite having a large farm of 1,500 acres and selling at their fruit stand and at farmers markets in Sacramento seven days a week, they really couldn’t get ahead. That’s when Richard started to think about exporting their prunes overseas.

But first, Richard had to convince his marketing partners to expand into Asia. South Korea was eager to work with him, so he cultivated that relationship with dinners and meetings. It was at the end of a 28-day trip through Asia, traveling through Taiwan, the Philippines, China, Hong Kong and other countries, that Richard had his aha moment.

“I drew a map of Japan and Korea and China, and arrows from California, then all these arrows going all over Asia, different places. And I said, we need to do this here,” he says.

It was a success. Asian cultures embraced the fruit for its sweetness and health benefits, which include fiber, antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and bone support. When he took his first trip to China with the California Prune Board, he couldn’t believe the reception he got. “Five hundred people showed up at a banquet room to hear about prunes!” he says. Taylor Brothers maintained an office in China from 2000 until 2007.

Taylor Brothers built their first processing plant in Yuba City in 1993. As their overseas business grew, they built a plant in Poland in 2004 and another in South Korea in 2005. They transport their prunes via containers on ships. They’re then processed at the overseas plants and distributed throughout Europe and Asia. The company eventually sold the South Korean plant to a larger Korean firm in 2021, which plans to take it to an IPO on the Korean stock exchange in 2026. Richard hopes to be there not to ring the bell, but bang the drum, which is the Asian custom.

Richard also has a brother Dave and a sister Janice, who married a Mondavi of the Charles Krug wine family. Richard and his wife, Mona, have three daughters — Jacqueline, Allison and Elaine. The sisters started their own skin care company infused with their family’s prunes. (See the next story.)

Richard admits he and his brother John “worked their butts off” to make the farm a success. They currently have 50 employees. “You’ve got to have grit, determination or gumption,” Richard says. They sold 900 acres earlier this year to a Canadian pension firm. As for the farm’s legacy?

“I look back, and somebody said, ‘You know, you got your name on three buildings around the world.’”

–

Stay up to date on business in the Capital Region: Subscribe to the Comstock’s newsletter today.