Same with selling fruit outside the Grand Valley now, growers don't ship via railroad anymore. I could never fill a whole tractor trailer to a single buyer in eastern CO, so had to ship LTL which was more costly and problematic. The big distribution houses have always been crooks supported by USDA rules. An old friend and fellow birder is an agronomist who developed the Olathe sweet corn strain. I think he probably did OK.
I had an uncle, a geologist engineer/scientist for Rockwell who had an avocado orchard in Orange County. He specialized in grafting and growing exotic shrub, vine and tree fruits and had a successful small farm business for 25 years after retirement.