Okanogan Valley farms growing in the land of perseverance

Washington’s northernmost tree fruit growers have small parcels, erratic soils and long distances to warehouses.

But Okanogan Valley growers have their ways to meet those challenges.

They collaborate, seek price premiums, build retail markets and graft when they can’t afford to replant. And sometimes, they work a second job … or two.

Whatever the strategy, one of the area’s elder statesmen is pleased with what he sees.

“Everybody’s doing it a little bit different, and that’s OK,” said Sam Godwin, a Tonasket grower and member of several industry boards. “The industry up here, we’ve survived because we’re forced to be a little more creative.”

In August, Good Fruit Grower visited several Okanogan County growers to document some of that creativity.

Working together

Six growers participate in the Okanogan Producers Marketing Association, or OPMA, a cooperative that sells to high-end farm markets and specialty stores throughout Western Washington’s populated Puget Sound and the city of Spokane to the east. 

“Farmers need to get good prices for their fruit,” said JC Kauffman, an OPMA member known for hand-wrapped peaches and freestanding trees. “We owe it to each other, and we owe it to ourselves.” OPMA sells his peaches for $3 per pound; about $2.50 comes back to him.

The co-op’s relationship with loyal buyers gives farmers more say over their prices.

On his farm, Kauffman hires warehouse workers and pruners, but he usually picks himself. For peaches, he visits the same tree six or more times. To streamline, he picks into totes on a flatbed truck, keeps many trees pedestrian height and staggers chores with a mix of varieties, including some rare heirloom apples. 

Kauffman, a University of Washington business graduate, said he and his wife, Amber, bought their farm, Filaree Fruit, in 2010 and have all but weaned themselves from moonlighting. In the early years, about 70 percent of their income came from off-farm work, such as tax preparation. Today, Amber works solely on-farm, while JC drives trucks and keeps books for OPMA. His family actually took a vacation last summer, he said.

Individualism

Other growers diversify on their own. 

Take Dennis and Mallory Carlton of Smallwood Farms. Dennis farms while Mallory manages the fruit stand, which has a restaurant and retail store, along State Route 20.

Their pay-as-we-go approach to the business leads to pacing out upgrades. In the past few years, the former construction worker and a friend replaced torn-up warehouse sheet metal, added air conditioning to the kitchen and installed a barbecue pit for smoking meats. 

His family’s business stands equally on three legs — the fruit stand, private sales to specialty stores in the Methow Valley and wholesale deliveries of apples to larger warehouses. “It’s actually a really good balance,” he said.

Carlton was discouraged from farming as the fourth generation of his family business. He attended business school at University of Oregon, but his ill grandfather convinced him to come back. Now, he’s known for buying or leasing orchards from aging growers.

His oldest child, Lane, likes farming and may take over someday. To make sure that’s possible, Carlton is diversifying into housing for workers or rentals and considering entering the self-storage business.

Carlton said he preferred to go it alone rather than join OPMA, as the region has a history of co-op mergers and failures.

Another staunch independent, Apple Otte and her family’s River Valley Organics near Tonasket have relied on retail relationships and Farm Service Agency loans to wean themselves from large warehouses. 

“The challenge is always the capital part of it for us,” Otte said. 

In 2017, River Valley Organics used loans to build its own cold storage warehouse and packing room. However, after some orchard investments of new acreage, trellised blocks, netting and reflective fabrics, the company expects to need even more room. The family has applied for grant funding, which could lead to packing for other small growers.

Since 2021, River Valley has sold to PCC Community Markets, a cooperative with 16 high-end retail locations near Seattle. The co-op is known for paying high prices for local fruit, Otte said.

Her sons, Rory and Kevan, want to continue farming as the next generation.

Many hats

Moonlighting is a common theme for growers in North Central Washington.

Brothers Corbin and Gerad Moser are fourth-generation farmers and field reps for the Oroville office of Northwest Wholesale, a farmer supply and service cooperative. They also broker bee colonies in the spring.

They own their own orchards but also participate in the management of their parents’ farm, which will eventually transition to them. That helps them pool resources such as H-2A labor.

They consider off-farm jobs part of farming startup costs.

Pat and Haley Colbert of Tonasket credit their success to working with good packers and targeting the right niche varieties. For example, they were among the first to plant SugarBee in 2014 when they won a lottery for a limited number of trees. They also have an apple variety named Pink Lemonade and the Lucy series of red-fleshed apples.

However, to make ends meet, they own a trucking company and help sell crop insurance.

They say it’s worth it. Both are third-generation farmers and wanted a similar upbringing for their three kids now.

“We love it for the lifestyle,” Haley said. “We love it for that work ethic it’s instilling in the kids. We get to be together all the time. We work together all the time. We enjoy that.” 

—by Ross Courtney