CMI Orchards makes commitment to regenerative practices

Cherries are at the heart of CMI Orchards’ operations as one of the main items it grows, packs and ships. With one of the widest selection of cherries in the market, including Red and Rainier varieties in both conventional and organic and its branded options like Skylar Rae and Strawberry Cherries, the company caters to diverse shopper preferences.

“Our signature cherry program, Nature’s Candy, and our jumbo cherry program, XXL Cherries, guarantee something for every shopper,” said Joel Hewitt, vice president of sales for the Wenatchee, WA-based company. “While many products pursue 52-week availability, cherries stand out as a seasonal delicacy that consistently fuels demand delivering high profits to retailers. We have specific warehouses and growers dedicated solely to cherries, ensuring each summer is supplied with this sought-after fruit.”

The cherry segment changes year over year, navigating a brief but critical time frame influenced by various factors. Despite unpredictable elements like weather, CMI Orchards’ cherry business has steadily expanded, driven by a relentless pursuit of top-quality fruit.

“Our focus remains on delivering cherries with exceptional flavor and size, ensuring customer satisfaction and repeat business,” Hewitt said. “With the recent Starr Ranch partnership, we gained 33 percent more tonnage over last year, and now hold a significant market share of Northwest cherries.”

Rochelle Bohm, vice president of marketing, noted that despite challenges last year presented with the overlap of California and Northwest cherry seasons, the company experienced some of the best eating cherries that it could have asked for.

“Each season is dynamic and complex for different reasons and it’s difficult to compare seasons due to all of the variables,” she said. “Volatility is one of the only things certain about the cherry season, but that is part of the excitement. Our crop size last year was 48 percent higher than the previous year, which was down 35 percent from the year prior. In the 2022 selling season, we experienced extreme compression due to harvest timing. Our full season was shorter, and harvest time compressed into fewer weeks.”

CMI Orchards’ customers are retail partners who support the company during cherry season by keeping cherries stocked on the shelves, promoted, and well cared for — as well as the consumers who love eating delicious Northwest cherries.

“Strong partnerships hinge on mutual trust, transparency, communication, and shared success,” Hewitt said. “By aligning the interests of growers, retailers, and consumers, CMI adapts and overcomes any obstacle thrown our way, ensuring our customers get only the highest quality fruit on the shelves.”

CMI Orchards continues to think about growth opportunities and recently expanding its entire portfolio — apples, pears and cherries — has empowered the company to serve accounts more comprehensively than before.

“Our cherry volume is doubling this year over last, and provided Mother Nature continues to cooperate, we’ll have the supply to meet shopper demand all summer long,” Hewitt said. “Coupled with our best-in-class promotional tools, retailers capitalizing on our highly-customizable campaigns know we have all the tools they need to push multiple items in both the short and long term.”

The company’s commitment to regenerative practices is pivotal to that growth.

Spearheaded by the Allred family, who are owners of Double Diamond Fruit and sole proprietors of Royal Family Farming, the Soil Center endeavor marks a significant step forward in regenerative agriculture.

“At its core is an advanced waste-processing system that upcycles byproducts from orchards, row crops, dairy and beef operations into high-quality soil amendments,” Bohm said. “One aspect of this project includes chipping removed trees from our orchards and chipping that wood to feed the largest worm farm in the world. The worms convert liquid waste from cattle operations and those wood chips into valuable worm castings, which are then used across our orchards and field crops.”