WENATCHEE, WASH. - Stemilt is taking its cherry education experience virtual on July 22 with its Stemilt U: Virtual Cherry College webinar. Starting at 1 p.m. CDT, the 60-minute webinar will take attendees through the cherry harvest, packing, and shipping process while showcasing the locales and differences of Stemilt’s season-long cherry program. 

“One of the highlights of every summer is having produce friends visit our orchards to learn how World Famous Cherries go from our orchards to your grocery stores,” said Brianna Shales, senior marketing manager of Stemilt. “Since COVID-19 has put a pause on in-person events, we pivoted and are now sharing the next best thing through this Virtual Cherry College webinar. It’s a great way to educate your entire produce or merchandising teams about where sweet cherries come from, how they are grown, and how to effectively market and merchandise cherries.” 

Led by Tate Mathison, Stemilt’s director of sales, the webinar will feature videos of Mathison, and his father, 4th generation cherry grower Kyle Mathison. Together, they will talk about the environment cherries need to grow, show how cherries are harvested, hydrocooled, and packed, and explain their family’s farming roots that date back to the early 1900s.  

Roger Pepperl, Stemilt’s marketing director and a former produce buyer/merchandiser, will share best practices for marketing and merchandising cherries before opening up a Q&A session to ask the experts any lingering cherry questions. 

Click here to register for Stemilt U: Virtual Cherry College. Registration is free and all registrants will receive a recording of the webinar.