Douglas Fruit finds its niche
It’s been difficult for Washington stone fruit producers to compete in the marketplace, but Douglas Fruit Company of Pasco, Washington, has found its niche growing certified organic stone fruits.
Douglas Fruit packs a million boxes of stone fruits—including half of Washington’s fresh apricots—and is the largest stone fruit packer in the state.
However, they soon realized they couldn’t just pack stone fruits for three to four months and leave the facility idle for the rest of the year, so they began packing apples and now pack about 3 million boxes annually.
Their relationship with Stemilt Growers began when they started hydrocooling cherries for Stemilt’s Tri-Cities-area growers. Then, they decided to have their cherries packed at Stemilt rather than run a line themselves for just a couple of weeks. Later, Douglas supplied stone fruits and apples to Stemilt as needed, packed under the Stemilt label.
In 2004, Stemilt took over the sales and marketing of all Douglas’s fruit, though Douglas Fruit still has a small sales department that works under the Stemilt umbrella. And Douglas gave up its label to pack everything under the Stemilt brand.
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