Laid off from Blue Diamond Growers.

What Blue Diamond Growers layoffs have meant for employees

Most of the plant's workers learned in June 2025 that their jobs were going, well before they'd actually leave, because the co-op wanted to tell people as soon as possible, CEO Kai Bockmann said. About half of the plant's 632 employees were to stay on the payroll until the final phase, National Nut Grower reported. Months of warning count for something, and a city councilmember praised the co-op for giving people time to prepare. It also meant clocking in for a year or more at a place you knew was closing, one where generations of people had worked, as the councilmember put it. When CapRadio visited, workers were too worried about their jobs to talk.

That stretch is where most of the decisions sit. The co-op's June 2025 release promised incentives to stay through the transition along with severance and outplacement, which can leave people choosing between holding on for the incentive and taking another job when one turns up. If you were offered a stay incentive, it's worth knowing in writing what it requires, when it pays and whether leaving early for other work would touch your severance, and, if your phase has moved since, whether the incentive's date moved too and what happens to it if you're let go first.

The plan has already moved once. In April 2026 Blue Diamond kept in-shell processing in Sacramento because the specialized equipment and storage were already there, and it opened those jobs to current employees, ABC10 reported. That gave some people a third choice beside severance and a transfer south to Turlock or Salida, plants the co-op opened in 2013 and 2019. If you're weighing an in-shell job or a transfer, you can ask whether taking it changes the severance or stay incentive you'd otherwise get, and how long the work is expected to last, since the co-op called keeping in-shell processing the most practical option at that stage of the transition. If it's a transfer, it may mean moving or a longer commute, and it's fair to ask whether the co-op helps with either.

Blue Diamond explained the closing in terms of its owners, the almond farmers who make up the cooperative. Bockmann said running a plant from the historical buildings had become too costly and inefficient and that streamlining would bring increased value to grower members. The co-op told growers the closing would drive long-term efficiency and stronger returns, writing in its 2025 annual report for a fiscal year when net sales and other revenue rose to $1.51 billion from $1.33 billion. The same CapRadio report quoted the region's economic development chief saying many Blue Diamond workers made around $25 an hour and that Sacramento was "not hospitable to $25 an hour anymore." If that was your wage, it's a hard line to read about your own job.

If you're out of work from the plant, some of the help on record came through SETA. Its Sacramento Works team ran Rapid Response orientations for Blue Diamond employees and, in June 2026, a private job and resource fair with the co-op that drew 27 employers and workforce partners. One attendee was offered a job during the fair, and another employer said it had already hired a former Blue Diamond worker through the effort. SETA describes its Rapid Response services as no-cost and meant to connect people with employment services, training and career resources, so it may be worth contacting SETA to ask what's available now. Blue Diamond's notices sit by date in our WARN filings tracker, and California's layoff notice records and what California unemployment pays cover the state side.

A sourced history of Blue Diamond Growers layoffs

• April 2026, in-shell processing stays in Sacramento

  Blue Diamond kept in-shell almond processing for export in Sacramento, about 90 jobs current employees could apply for, ABC10 reported. All other manufacturing was still set to close, and the co-op said affected workers were getting severance and job placement support.

• June 2025, Sacramento plant closing announced

  Blue Diamond's June 6 release set an exit from the midtown plant over 18 to 24 months, moving most manufacturing to Turlock and Salida and affecting an estimated 600 people, and promised stay incentives, severance and outplacement for all impacted positions.

• 2024, 38 corporate jobs cut

  Blue Diamond cut 38 corporate jobs, under 3% of its workforce, and said all exiting staff would get severance and outplacement services, per a statement to The Sacramento Bee that blamed marketplace headwinds.

What to do if you're laid off from Blue Diamond Growers

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Blue Diamond Growers's biggest hubs: California. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Blue Diamond Growers's hub states run: California, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.