Case Studies Region: West

In the world of fresh produce, few companies have made as significant an impact as Potandon Produce, the nation’s largest marketer of table-stock potatoes and a leading force in fresh onions. Led by Mel Davenport, one of the company’s founders, Potandon has continually evolved to meet the changing needs of consumers while staying true to […]

In a contest between quality and quantity, the former prevails.  That’s at least the reasoning of Caleb Counts, whose experience as a cannabis user and entrepreneur long preceded the plant’s 2016 recreational legalization in California.  Now, as he keeps things above board, Counts can’t help but be affected by those who, because of taxes, regulations, […]

It’s easy to envision the state of Washington state as an unending forest of towering fir, spruce and hemlock trees forever moistened by storm systems riding in from the Pacific Ocean. But the HighLine Grain Growers Inc. website shows aerial views of grain silos and railroad cars lined up in a landscape that belies this […]

Jim Cheney had just graduated high school in 1968 and when his father advised him to look for a job at Wenatchee Pack, he thought he was going to work at one of the fruit packing sheds in town. And why not? His hometown of Wenatchee, Washington, is considered the “Apple Capital of the World,” […]

Founded in 1983, Merryvale Vineyards’ proprietor René Schlatter has announced that the winery will be celebrating its 40th anniversary through 2023 with a series of events to highlight the past 40 years of Merryvale’s Napa Valley wines, while also providing a sneak-peak at future wine releases. Over the last four decades, Merryvale Vineyards has established […]

Time was when hops were just another agricultural commodity. Much like a kernel of wheat, once processed there wasn’t much difference among these little cone-like flowers regardless of where they were grown. “Well, since then, the whole craft beer movement has changed what it’s like to be a hop farmer,” Kevin Riel tells Terra Firma […]

Ask Nate Offenberg the reason for his company’s success, and he’ll says it’s more than just the quality of the product Pacific Farms delivers. “For any family-owned business with a global footprint, strong relationships with partners around the world are just as important,” he tells Terra Firma. Pacific Farms, which has corporate offices in Reno, […]

When Chad Yakobson founded Crooked Stave, he wasn’t just trying to make good beer. He was trying to prove something. While most brewers had spent decades removing Brettanomyces in beer, he’d spent years studying how to use the yeast species. As laid out in his master’s thesis, he concluded that when left in, Brettanomyces creates […]

Picking from the produce section of a grocery store is often a gamble, especially if fruit is concealed by peels or rinds. As the co-owner of Turlock Fruit, Stephen Smith hates it when someone buys a melon only to cut it open and find pale, unripe flesh, which is common with cantaloupe and honeydew melon. […]

When gophers munch on grapevine roots and trunks at the California properties entrusted to Redwood Empire Vineyard Management, co-owner and viticulturist Tyler Klick doesn’t resort to poisons that pose a secondary threat to predators. Instead, he sets up nesting boxes for barn owls. One of those predators might sink its talons into a couple thousand […]