Stemilt Growers Celebrate Growers of the Year

Stemilt handed out their annual grower awards at the company’s annual grower barbecue recently and celebrated 13 farms for their high quality fruit.

Categories included the best fuji apple, or best honeycrisp as well as organic, pear and cherry categories.

Stemilt’s Director of Fieldstaff Jeff Health said the winners were chosen based on the high quality of fruit that a particular farm produced during the 2016 growing season.

The full list of winners is:

Fuji Award: Diaz Orchard – Lupe Diaz
Gala Award: Fred Hurst – Fred Hurst & Edgar Martinez
Honeycrisp Award: PFF Airport Ranch – Dave Piepel & Ken Engley
Granny Smith Award: A&T Mathison Ranch, Inc. – Aaron Mathison & Antonio Ochoa
Pink Lady Award: GFC Royal Main – Andy Gale & Pedro Cuevas
Red Delicious Award: Mattawa Orchard #2 – Luis Cuevas & Norma Cuevas
Organic Apple Grower Award: Diamondback Acres, Inc. – Bill & Angell Clark
Organic Pear Award: Jon Small – Jon Small
Pear Award: Entiat River Valley #1 – Mike Taylor & Mike Jurgens
Rainier Cherry Award: Finlayson Orchards, LLC – Frank Finlayson
Valley Cherry Award: Lucky Bohemian #3 – Mike Mrachek, Bryan Mrachek & Israel Huerta
Hill Cherry Award: Kyle Mathison Orchards – Kyle Mathison
Organic Cherry Award: Stormy Mountain Ranch – Ray Fuller, Abel & Rosa Perez

If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail krounce@cherrycreekradio.com.