75 Years Strong
By Mitch Lies
Editor’s note: This article is reprinted
courtesy the Capital Press,
www.capitalpress.com.
alem, Ore. — As
Oregon Cherry
Growers recently closed
the book on its first 75
years, it remains a giant
in maraschino cherry production.
The co-op today is much more than
that.
Oregon Cherry Growers today
annually packs thousands of tons of
fresh cherries and, in recent years, the
co-op has branched into producing
infused dried cherries and blueberries.
The result? The co-op today is as
strong as ever.
“Cherry-growing is a pretty volatile
business,” cherry grower and co-op
member Ken Bailey says. “Having these
other products has given the
cooperative much needed stability.”
The transition from maraschino
cherries to the diverse portfolio it
carries today went smoothly, according
to Ed Johnson, president and CEO of
the co-op. But it wasn’t easy.
Johnson said growers already had
shifted acreage from processing
varieties to fresh cherry varieties when
he took the company reins in 2001. The
shift created potential problems
regarding company identity.
“We had to decide who we wanted to
be,” he says. “Up to that point, we were
a processed company that did some
fresh fruit, but we were transitioning to
where we are now. We are now a
formidable fresh company, and we’re
still a formidable processed company.
“We had to determine if those things
were compatible,” he says.
Making the transition, Johnson says,
was critical to the economic survival of
the co-op.
“At the bottom of the change was
opportunity,” he says. “The demand has
increased for fresh because there is a
portion of the population that wants to
eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. Our growers see that as an opportunity.”
Johnson said the co-op reached a milestone early in the
2000s when, for the first time, it bought briner cherries from
outside the company.
In years past, it was typical for co-op members to sell
thousands of tons of briner cherries to other processors after
meeting its own demand.
Another milestone occurred earlier this year when the coop
agreed to a joint venture with Sage Fruit of Yakima,
Wash., to build a 78,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art packing
facility in Wapato, Wash., for its fresh cherry production.
Cost-cuttting changes
The company in recent years has made several smaller
changes that have reduced production costs, including
consolidating its pitting operation. All pitting now is done at
its plant in The Dalles, instead of being split between Salem
and The Dalles as it formerly was.
“We are in a continual cost-reduction journey,” Johnson
said. “We look at every single link in our chain to determine
how we can lower cost.”
One of the biggest obstacles in the future for the co-op is
acquiring adequate labor.
Johnson said the industry closely follows immigration
legislation and regularly submits comments at the federal
level.
“We are challenged,” Johnson said. “Labor is a significant
issue and a significant concern both in the orchards and the
packing lines. We have automated as much as we can.”
Oregon Cherry Growers started in1932 when 53
Willamette Valley cherry growers founded Willamette
Cherry Growers. Other cooperatives also formed in the
region at around the same time, including The Dalles
Cooperative Growers and Columbia Fruit Growers.
According to historical accounts, growers formed the coops
to avoid being at the mercy of processors.
In 1966, The Dalles Cooperative and Columbia Fruit
Growers merged under the name The Dalles Cooperative. In
1984, in an attempt to be more vertically integrated, The
Dalles Cooperative and Willamette Cherry Growers merged,
forming Oregon Cherry Growers.
Today the co-op has just under 100 grower-members split
between the Willamette Valley and The Dalles/Hood River
area.
The co-op sells product in domestic food service and retail
markets and works at increasing export sales through market
promotion programs in Pacific Rim countries.
The co-ops’ members typically are on the cutting edge of
production techniques, says the co-op’s board chairman,
cherry grower Greg Johnson of The Dalles. And many are
certified under different sustainable certification programs.
Ed Johnson said growers opted to certify operations as
sustainable largely because markets were demanding it.
The co-op also has increased efficiency in recent years
through better utilization of sort-outs.
“Because of our diversification, we’re able to utilize almost
all of the fruit that we’re buying,” Johnson says. “We’re
flexible and we’ve diversified.”
The company, he says, should be well-positioned to run
for another 75 years.
“We changed our business model, but it was something
that needed to happen if we were going to stay in business,”
Johnson says. “It’s been a good change. Our balance sheet has been improving.”
