FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 23, 2007
www.stemilt.com
Contact: Roger Pepperl
Marketing Director
Stemilt teams with Peshastin Hi-Up to become powerhouse in the premium Wenatchee River District Pear Deal
WENATCHEE, WA - Two familiar premium Northwest pear shippers have combined operational and marketing relations to become one of the largest premium pear shippers in North America. Stemilt Growers Inc. will market 100 percent of Peshastin Hi-Up Growers pear program starting this August. A previous 2006 agreement had Stemilt marketing a large percentage of Peshastin Hi-Up's crop.
Stemilt vice president of sales and marketing Mike Taylor said, "The two organizations worked closely together in 2006 and we have now decided to take the program to the next level. Stemilt and Hi-Up will gain efficiencies through collaboration in not only marketing the crop but also in packing, storage plans, packaging materials, ripening programs, transportation and logistics. This will be a complete go-to-market strategy."
"We have common goals and values, and each has organizational strengths that complement each other," added Taylor.
Peshastin Hi-Up is a grower-owned cooperative that has a long history of growing premium pears in the upper Wenatchee River Valley, some of the best pear ground in the world. The company strictly ships pears and in 2006 grew and packed approximately 750,000 cases of pears. The majority are d'Anjou and Bartlett but a good selection of varietal pears round out the program.
Stemilt was established by Tom Mathison in 1960, and is privately owned by the Mathison family who have farmed in Central Washington since the early 1900's. Stemilt shipped approximately 1 million boxes of pears in 2006, with d'Anjou, Bartlett and Bosc being the main varieties. Overall, Stemilt Washington operations packs and ships about 12 million boxes of apples, 2.75 million boxes of cherries and 1.5 million boxes of soft fruit annually.
Both companies say they are augmenting their operations in many ways by working closer together. According to Peshastin Hi-Up general manager Ken Hemberry, "Stemilt's marketing channels for premium fruit is a perfect fit with our operations. Their strong position on Washington apples, which includes new varieties such as Piñata, creates a perfect mix. Stemilt also has a leading position in organics which works well in filling out the tree fruit category."
The collaboration makes the two organizations the largest Washington supplier of Concorde pears, Taylor's Gold pears and organic pears. Peshastin Hi-Up's mix of varieties and large manifest creates a well balanced mix of pear to apple ratio, said Stemilt marketing director Roger Pepperl. "This mix fits well with Stemilt's strategy of growing and selling product in the ratio that consumers purchase it. The pear mix is a perfect blend of varieties, and they come from a group of premium growers who are located in one of the world's prime pear growing regions."
"Stemilt is proud to be teaming up with Peshastin Hi-Up," said Pepperl. "It's a seamless continuation of Stemilt's long history of premium pears with an industry leading ripening program that has built sales at the consumer side of the business."