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Summer Fruits MERGING two cultures D uring the early cherry season, West Mathison, president of Stemilt Growers, Inc., Wenatchee, Washington, spends about half his time at the com- pany's California plant, where he sees plenty of familiar faces. As the Pacific Northwest apple and pear packing sea- son begins to wind down in the spring, the company sends a team of about 30 people, including forklift driv- ers, mechanics, and shipping managers from Wenatchee to work at its cherry-packing facility near Stockton, California, until the Northwest cherry season begins. That way, they experience two cherry seasons each year. "Every cherry season is a learning opportunity, so our team gets two seasons a year to learn," Mathison said. "I think it's helped us become more effective in cherries." While all the cherries are sold by Stemilt's own mar- keters, the export sales team goes to California for the sea- son to meet with foreign buyers and show them the fruit. Although Stemilt has a team of horticulturists in California as well as its team in Washington, both travel to both states so that they also gain two seasons of experience every year. Field workers are hired through labor contractors, which is the typical recruitment method in California. Because bloom tends to be more spread out in California, some blocks need to be picked three times. By working with a contractor, Stemilt can have a crew pick fruit for a couple of days, then work for another orchard, and then return three days later to finish the harvest. For the packing-line workers who are based in - California, cherries are the first of a diverse list of crops they work with. After the cherry harvest is over, they find jobs with vegetable processors, and might work each season for three to five different opera- tions. Mathison said many of the same people return to Stemilt for the cherry season every year. Because of the diversity of agriculture in the region, Stemilt is able to keep its plant in use in the off season by using the storage for processing peaches, Bartlett pears, and peppers, as well as pomegranates and walnuts. The company also does some custom packing of other stone fruits. Larry Stone, former production manager at Chin- chiolo, is chief executive officer of Chinchiolo Stemilt California. Though based in California, he is part of Stemilt's leadership team and travels each month to Wenatchee. "He's helped to solidify the cultures of the two teams between Washington and California," Mathison said. "I think any time there's an ownership transition, there are opportunities to create an us-and-them environment, and Larry did a good job to help neutralize that situation." —G. Warner West Mathison In Washington, rainstorms tend to be more isolated, Mathison observed. "In California, it cuts a wide path through that central valley, and a lot of the cherry-growing district is within a 50-mile radius. Should the weather cooperate, there's the potential to have a much larger California cherry crop." But it won't be this year, either. The 2012 crop is expected to be around 8 million boxes, as production in California's early districts was reduced to a mere 25 percent of a crop by a lack of chill. Marketing risks Though the horticultural risks are higher in California, the marketing risks are lower because California cherries are the first in the Northern Hemisphere to come on the market. "There's tremendous worldwide demand for cherries, and that's so exciting," Mathison said. "When we look at all the opportunities we can invest in, we still think one of the best financial opportunities is in the early cherry deal in California. The month of May has tons of market capacity." With its California production on the early end, and its late cherries from the Stemilt Hill area in Wenatchee, Stemilt expected to be picking cherries this season from May 5 to September 5. Mathison notes that his father, Kyle Mathison, who worked hard to establish late-season cherry varieties at Stemilt Hill, now has a 500-acre orchard in Shafter in C - alifornia's southern district, where he's focusing on varieties that can potentially extend the front end of the season. Though this makes cherries less of a seasonal item than in the past, Mathison said customers don't tire of cherries. They just want a good eat- ing experience. Retailers continue to set new records for the volumes of cherries they sell, which is because of the extended season, rather than increases in volume on a weekly basis. Five packers Most of California's cherry volume is in the hands of five players. Depending on the volume from year to year, Chinchiolo Stemilt ranks as the second, third, or fourth-largest grower-packer, producing about one million packed boxes. The company packs for outside growers but also has its own orchards and is planting more. It installed a new cherry line in California for this season to increase capacity and enable the company to pick, pack, and ship cherries more quickly. In Washington, Stemilt expects to produce about 3.4 million 20-pound boxes of cherries this season. Mathison said Stemilt's goal for California is to continue to improve product quality and make it more consistent. "We want to plant more in California in the early season, but we're The California cherry industry, historically centered around the Stockton-Lodi area, has expanded south towards Bakersfield in recent years. While this has meant an earlier start to the season, it's also created a need for low-chill cherry varieties. 12 JULY 2012 GOOD FRUIT GROWER waiting for the new generation of genetics to come out, and that hasn't happened yet," he said. • www.goodfruit.com PHOTO COURTESY OF STEMILT GROWERS