Dole Food Co., the world's largest fresh-fruit and vegetable producer, is selling land in Hawai'i and California to avoid default on $350 million in bonds, Bloomberg News Service reported.

The asset sales may relieve pressure on 84-year-old billionaire Chairman David Murdock to make an emergency cash infusion into the Westlake, Calif.-based company, whose $350 million issue maturing in 2009, a third of the debt outstanding, has dropped 13 percent this year. Credit-default swaps suggest a 76 percent chance of default in the next five years, according to a JPMorgan Chase & Co. valuation model.

Closely held Dole, founded in Hawai'i in 1851, is raising cash after European banana tariffs more than doubled to $277 per metric ton in 2006 and shipping costs rose, eroding the company's ability to repay debt. The company, which had revenue of $7 billion last year, hasn't passed on the tariff increase to customers, focusing instead on battling Chiquita Brands International Inc. to increase its 12 percent share of the European market.