Editing Selma, California (section)

===Agribusiness===
Wheat growing was Selma's first economic engine but was replaced by [[orchards]] and [[vineyard]]s when farmers realized how well [[peach]]es, [[plum]]s, and grapes grew in the sandy soil, irrigated with snow-melt water imported through canals from the nearby [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] mountain range.

Although [[raisin]]s soon became the major crop, Selma called itself the "Home of the Peach" and was also known as "A Peach of a City." Through the 1960s, the local peach [[Canning|cannery]], where [[Libby's]]-brand fruit was packed, was a major seasonal employer. Peaches and other tree fruit are still grown in abundance.

With 90 percent of U.S. raisins produced within {{Convert|8|mi|km|spell=in}} of Selma, the city adopted the slogan "Raisin Capital of the World" in 1963. Area vineyards also produce table grapes. A decline in family farming, the national trend in U.S. agriculture after World War II, and depressed prices for raisins and table grapes, especially in the last decades of the twentieth century, were drains on the Selma-area [[agribusiness]] economy. [[Harris Ranch]] is based in Selma.