Didar Singh Bains, one of the richest farmers in the world, popularly known as the Peach King ofCalifornia, was born on 10th January 1939 in Village Nangal Khurd in the District of Hoshiarpur, Punjab.
He was not the first person in his family to move from Punjab to USA. His grandfather and father had gone
many years before he went there. When his father was in USA, he started farming in his Village at the age
of 14 to support his family. He left India in 1958 and reached USA just penny less. He initially worked as
a day labourer. Whatever he saved out of his earning, he invested in agricultural land. Gradually his hard
work on those lands brought results and he became one of the wealthier persons in North California, worth
somewhere in the region of $50 million. Didar started out driving tractors and irrigating orchards for 75
cents an hour, he did the work of four men, and soon bought his first peach orchard. He bought another,
then another, and by 1978, had become the largest peach grower in California. His first name roughly means
“visionary” in Punjabi. Today he owns more than 40 pockets of land in 13 counties, including 667 acres
next to Sacramento International Airport and much of rapidly developing western Yuba City. It is not his
possession of huge land and riches alone which make him a role-model personality among his peers, but
his interest and activities relating to Sikh religion are equally if not more important to distinguish him as
a Gursikh role-model. He has always been a leading figure in the Sikh community during all these years.
Before 1983 he was the head of the North America Akali Dal. After the Blue Star Operation in Amritsar he
became the president of the World Sikh Organisation. In 1985, he became the founder Chairman of the
World Kabbadi Federation. He is also acknowledged as the founder of the Annual Sikh Parade in Yuba
City where nearly 100,000 Sikhs come together. It is the largest gathering of Sikhs in America. He is also a
member of the World Sikh Council.