Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/418083
www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER DECEMBER 2014 43 PHOTO BY GERALDINE WARNER Jerry Haak explains his cherry training system during a summer tour at his orchard in 2011. the way he looked at it, after 50 those would be bonus years. Maybe he had a little stronger desire." First orchard Haak was born in Delavan, Wisconsin, in 1962 and grew up in Outlook, Washington, where his parents, Henry and Karen Haak, had a dairy farm. He earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture/business from Dordt College, Iowa. He planted his first orchard in 1987, while working as a loan officer for Northwest Farm Credit Services in Yakima. He later worked as a field horticul- turist for Washington Fruit and Produce Company for about ten years while expanding his orchard holdings. He became involved in 17 partnerships. He served on the Washington Apple Commission's board of directors from 2002 to 2005 and was on the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission's apple horticulture/pathology advisory committee for several years until 2005. He was also an active philanthropist. He was involved with the Sunnyside Christian Reformed Church and Sunnyside Christian School and was a board member of Partners Worldwide, whose goal is to create jobs in areas of the world that have high unemployment. "Jerry freely showed all of us how to compete and prosper in our challenging tree fruit businesses," Yakima grower Dave Allan commented after Haak's death. "He also led the way in encouraging and showing compassion to all with his gift of time and resources." "Regardless of whether he had passed away or not, he's always been a good candidate for this award," Zediker said. "Generally, we pick someone who's a little more aged, and unfortunately he didn't get that opportunity to be aged." • "Jerry freely showed all of us how to compete and prosper in our challenging tree fruit businesses." —Dave Allan "I believe the best investment you can make in your orchard is the money you spend on frost protection." "We believe in Orchard-Rite® wind machines because they have delivered excellent protection and depend able service. We tried a different brand of machine a while back and found that the coverage and reliability was not what we had experienced with our Orchard-Rite® machines. Since then, we have purchased only Orchard- Rite® machines." Scott McDougall General Manager/Orchard Operations "Orchard-Rite's Auto-Start option has become quite valuable to us. It reduces the likelihood of machines being started 20 minutes late due to a sudden drop of temperature that was missed by the frost protection staff." Bob Murphy Operations Manager/ Columbia Basin Orchards McDougall & Sons are now adding this option to every new Orchard-Rite® machine they purchase, and have begun retrofitting this equipment to their machines in cold and isolated areas. ® Cascade Wind Machine Service 1615 W. Ahtanum • Yakima, WA 98903 509-457-9196 Sales: Virgil Anders, ext 114 3766 Iroquois Lane • Wenatchee, WA 98801 509-662-2753 Sales: Dana Morgan, ext 215 Dave Harmening, ext 214 For your nearest representative: www.orchard-rite.com Cascade Wind Machine Service 1615 W. Ahtanum • Yakima, WA 98903 509-457-9196 Sales: Virgil Anders, ext 114 3766 Iroquois Lane • Wenatchee, WA 98801 509-662-2753 Sales: Dana Morgan, ext 215 Dave Harmening, ext 214 For your nearest representative: www.orchard-rite.com Orchard-Rite® Wind Machines • www.orchard-rite.com