this time of year, there's only one thing on marysville farmer sam nevis' mind--getting his fruit off the tree. just like any other farmer, getting his harvest in and on time is crucial, even though you won't be seeing these plums in the produce section of the market. that's because you'll be seeing them as dried plums, otherwise known as prunes. and there's no better place for finding some of thbest dried plums than this area. did you know the state's greatest dried plum production actually happens here in the sacramento and san joaquin valleys? farmers here produce more dried plums than the rest of the world combined. >> right now, we're looking at french prunes about to be harvested. and what i look for to see if they're ripe or not is color. we test for sugar. we look at overall fruit development. and this tree is ready to be harvested. >> here they are harvesting 96 tons of fruit a day. so, to be efficient, almost all the harvesting is done by machines now. a mechanical shaker grabs a tree's main limb and, in a matter of seconds, shakes the fruit onto a fabric catching frame spre