Washington State giant Stemilt Growers has added a 281,000 sqft apple pachouse and storage facility to its portfoilo.
The purchase of the Chelan site from Dole Food gives Stemilt a facility with an apple pre-size line and two automatic tray-fill lines. It also providesd the company with storage space for one million cartons of apples.
Stemilt president Tom Mathison said the acquisition will allow the company to better service its northern growers, who had previously had to ship their fruit into Wenatchee.
On the production side, Roger Pepperl, Stemilt's marketing director, predicts a potential overlap of a maximum of 10 days for Californian and Washington cherry supplies.
He added, however, that the effect of any clash would be minimised by a Californian crop that has been generally small sized. Northwest cherries, which will be available from early June, will be larger, but early volumes could be tight after frost damage during blossom.
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