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4A Daily News – Saturday, July 6, 2013 Agriculture farm & ranch Tour heads to apple country After lunch at the Dou- cents per kwh. The bins ble R Ranch, Loomis, WA were ten high and the room we were enroute south to could hold 1,800 to 2,000 Brewster, WA on the West- bins. They were ern Livestock busy building a Journal tour $9 million packwhere we learned ing plant for about the apple cherries when industry at Gebwe visited, and bers Farms. within 2 weeks Everyone signed would be hanin since we were dling 14 ton of visiting a certicherries per fied warehouse hour. The cherand ranch. ries are cooled While still on from 80 to 50 the bus we Jean degrees in received safety 40'cool water, instructions. filtered and chlo"Stay with rinated. Then the group", Don't cherries are sorttouch any fruit, etc." They were sorting ed for firmness with 40% apples that had been in cold exported. It is the same storage since picking last process as the apples, being sorted for color, sizes, fall. There are 16 sizes, 5 floating in water to not color grades and 50 differ- bruise. 60% of the expense with ent packages for customers. The color sorter apples is labor, and they sizer was fascinating to import 1,500 workers from watch. Apples bruise, so Mexico and Jamaica. They they float in water, and are legal workers and housbrushes scrub them, then ing is furnished. The workthe $1 million sorter sorts ers are guaranteed 35 hours for color, hardness, applies per week from June 1 to a label with bar code and Nov. 5. They can make number. One of their $150 -200 a day piece work or min. wage. There are brands is a trout. When dry they are 900 full time workers and waxed for shine since US the labor crew is 2,700 durlikes that, and Europe likes ing harvest. Gebbers also have taste. WA produces 60% of USA apples, or 14 billion orchards in Chile, because apples per year. Walmart, grocery stores require a 52 Kroger, Safeway, Costco week supply of apples, and were stores mentioned by some varieties will last Gebbers Farms, while 35% only 5 to 6 months. In is exported to Canada, Chile the orchards are hi Mexico, China to name a density, close planting with few. The 20% no one wants dwarf trees . In their WA nursery are used for sauce, juice they will grow 300,000 and food processing. My group saw 16 lines apple trees per year. The of Golden Delicious being standard trees are planted sorted. We were told to 3-400 trees per acre while look for a white back- dwarf are 1,400 trees per ground on fruit since it will acre. The rootsystem is be sweeter and riper. The from Russia, for cold women working in the weather since it can be 21' packing house were wives below in mid-Dec. The new orchards use of year round employees. The refrigerator room emitters, except for Pink had controlled atmosphere Lady and they need drip to pull the oxygen level irrigation since humidity down. It was 32.5'F, and causes fire blight. They used to feed the power is cheap here at two Barton Courtesy photo Apples, apples, apples at Gebbers Farms on the Western Livestock Journal tour. cull apples to the cattle, but where they used to trail the time, and then come back and pick the interior chernow it is compost. The cattle. We drove past a large ries. For frost control there compost is used on orchards and the fields orchard of Honey Crisp were wind machines, one since they grow 1,200 acres apples that used to be the for every 10 acres.. We noticed string in the hay and corn, 2,000 acres bull pasture. They have a rock quarry young cherry trees, and it of cherries and 8,000 acres and they use 8 dump trucks is used to pull the branches of apples. They have 1,200 spring to keep the orchard roads in down so they grow horizontal instead of upward. pairs and 300 fall pairs, good shape with gravel. They use Carero tractors There is a 45 day pickplus grazing between 1,000 and 2,500 steers on grass. ing season for the cherries from Italy because they The cattle are trucked to the because the sun and eleva- have a lower center of gravsummer range of 70,000 tion makes a difference in ity on the steep hillsides. The mice will eat the deeded acres and 70,000 ripening. They pick the acres state and USFS exposed cherries the first bark of young trees, so they bait for mice and gophers. They pay a man five cents a bird to trap the starlings. They sell 50 to 75 semi- loads of apple wood on the coast for the pizza ovens. They have to get rid of the stumps because of coddling moth larvae, but much is ground for compost . Eleven of the nephews and nieces have come back to the farm, because grandfather Dan motivates the grandkids to return and do things in the family owned business. They are building a golf course after a grandson completes his internship in Arizona studying golf courses. We had an opportunity to walk among the apple trees high on a hillside and watch a man thinning the apples. They told us we had seen only a third of the apple and cherry orchards. Several boxes of apples were placed on the busses, and we enjoyed snacking on them as we headed for The Rivers Restaurant in Pateros. Dinner was smoked brisket, corn on the cob, beans, green, three bean and potato salads, and fresh apple cobbler made with Gebbers apples. As we returned to our motel in Omak, a full moon was rising over the mountain and shinning on the Okanogan River. Jean Barton can be reached at jbarton2013@gmail.com. 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