April 14, 2017
CapitalPress.com
15
Family orchard, co-op packing house work together
For the Capital Press
CALDWELL, Idaho —
The Mountainland Cooperative
was originally formed in Utah
to provide long-term storage,
packing and marketing of fruit
produced by member growers.
The co-op does no direct
sales; all sales are to the retail,
foodservice and wholesale
trade, mainly in the Intermoun-
tain area, but some of the fruit
is shipped to other regions of
the U.S.
Brad Goodloe manages the
Idaho packing house at Cald-
well.
“The orchards were start-
ed in Utah. We are now the
third generation of our family
orchard business. A packing
shed was started by the co-op
in Utah. As the co-op grew
and some of the growers grew
in size, they moved to Idaho
about five years ago and start-
ed a packing shed here, rather
than shipping the fruit to Utah,”
Goodloe said.
Mountainland Idaho works
with orchards in the area, in-
cluding Williamson Orchards
and Gary Garret, a grower near
Homedale, he said. “We also
pack a lot of fruit for Cald-
well Idaho Orchards. They are
Diamond
Halsey, OR
Courtesy of Mountainland Apples
From left, Jeff and Sean
Rowley and Brad Goodloe of
Mountainland Apples.
part of the co-op but located
here in Idaho. They are part
of a welfare program for the
LDS Church, supplying fruit to
needy people. As members of
the co-op, they use us to pack-
age their fruit.”
On the farming side, his
cousins Sean, Jeff and Daniel
Rowley grow fruit at Cherry
Hill Farms.
“At the beginning of harvest
we do apricots, then peach-
es and nectarines. The apples
ripen later,” he said. Different
varieties of apples ripen at dif-
ferent times, spreading out the
harvest.
Their family orchards in
Idaho grow Gala, Honeycrisp,
Fuji and Reds. After being
sorted and packed at Mountain-
land, the apples are shipped to
Wal-Mart stores and Associat-
ed Foods.
“We also sell apples to a
few smaller outlets. Wal-Mart
likes to promote local growers,
however. We see our products
in many grocery stores around
here. Associated Foods distrib-
utes our products in Utah and
the Northwest,” he said.
Goodloe and his cousins all
have children, and though they
are still young, some of them
are interested in the fruit busi-
ness. Daniel’s children range
from 1 to 10.
“They enjoy coming out to
the farm, especially the boys.
I have all girls and they come
with me whenever possible,
but are mainly exposed to the
packing side of things because
that’s what I do,” said Goodloe.
“There may eventually be a
fourth generation involved with
the fruit business.”
Their orchards include long-
term leases as well as land they
own.
“We look for opportunities
to keep expanding. This means
buying ground and finding leas-
es. We try to get 20-year leases,
to give enough time to get trees
into production,” he says.
Some trees today can come
into full production quicker
than traditional varieties, he
said.
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