Bill Monson, owner and president of Goose Ridge.

| Source: Goose Ridge WENATCHEE, WASH. — Stemilt Growers has partnered with Douglas Fruit and Goose Ridge to supply more apples with the Stemilt label.

According to Stemilt, for the 2023 crop, Goose Ridge will bring 860 acres of apples and around 50,000 bins to Douglas Fruit, which will pack and market the apples under the Stemilt brand.

Once the orchards are in peak production, Goose Ridge plans to supply 75,000 bins of conventional Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji, Cosmic Crisp, and Pink Lady apples, Stemilt said.

David Douglas, owner of Douglas Fruit, and Bill Monson, owner and president of Goose Ridge, expressed that the partnership benefits all three businesses.

David Douglas, owner of Douglas Fruit.

| Source: Douglas Fruit

“The Douglas and Monson families have known each other and been friends for 50 years,” Douglas said. “We share the same philosophies and goals as it pertains to our respective family farming operations and are conveniently located near one another in the Tri Cities area of Washington state.”

“We’re really excited to be working with the Douglas and Mathison families,” Monson said. “Bill Douglas fed cattle with Arvid Monson in the ‘80s when they were operating a feedlot in Sunnyside. We’ve been working on this project to partner with them now for the last four years. We all have a lot in common in the way we do business. We believe in family-owned and the commitment to delighting consumers with flavor and freshness; that’s a big part of us partnering with Douglas Fruit and Stemilt.”