18 CapitalPress.com
April 13, 2018
Williams family moves ahead with orchard in wake of loss
By BRAD CARLSON
For the Capital Press
Brad Carlson/For the Capital Press
Jackie Williams and son Bryan Williams in their apple
orchard.
Members of the Williams family aim to
carry their patriarch’s on-farm experiments
toward hoped-for fruition.
Harold Williams died in January at 83,
leaving Emmett, Idaho-area Williams Fruit
Ranch in the hands of his widow, Jackie,
who has worked in the operation for decades
and continues to tap the experience of their
children as the family moves the enterprise
ahead.
The Williams family aims to build on past
successes and keep trying new approaches, a
nod to Harold’s leadership and historically
a key to keeping the family’s 136-year-old
business thriving.
“We’re moving forward with the plans
he already had made,” said Bryan Williams,
54, Harold and Jackie’s son. He said his dad
was especially excited about recently graft-
ing a Red Delicious apple block to a Royal
Red Honeycrisp block, and continuing to
expand and revitalize a peach orchard hit by
a pre-dormancy hard freeze three seasons
back.
“It’s just a matter of continuation. It’s go-
ing to be the same,” said Jackie, who turns
78 this month. But noticeably absent will be
the frequently heard inquiry, “Harold, what
do I do?” she said.
This year’s goals, Jackie and Bryan said,
include sustaining a pattern of improvement
in local sales, the fruit operation’s lifeblood
that includes “U-pick” sales to visitors who
gather fruit themselves and sales to opera-
tors of fruit stands.
Jackie focuses on business strategy and,
with daughter Lisa Garcia, supplying a
handful of client fruit stands. They also oper-
ate their own stand and take some Williams
Fruit Ranch yield to farmers’ markets. Jack-
ie’s daughter Lori Lutskas works at Wash-
ington State University Veterinary Teaching
Hospital in Pullman, Wash.
Bryan, also a long-haul truck driver,
oversees labor and field work in cooperation
with longtime foreman Harold Spicer. Tasks
include monitoring Cameo apples now in
full production after an earlier Red Delicious
re-grafting project.
Williams Fruit Ranch, on South Slope
Road, comprises 100 acres. More than
one-third is alfalfa going into its fifth sea-
son. Once about twice as big, the operation
downsized and refocused starting around
1990. Bryan gave up a lease on some or-
chard ground that he had worked full-time
after college. The business began unwinding
its sales to packing facilities during a period
of high supply and other less-attractive eco-
nomics, ultimately moving toward selling
locally. The orchards produce apples, peach-
es, cherries, plums and prunes.
About 80 percent of revenue is from
U-pick customers who come from a wide
geographic area. Most of the rest comes
from fruit stands, a segment with growth
potential but its own competitive and oper-
ational challenges, Jackie said.
She enjoys hosting people on-site as they
pick fruit or buy it from the stand. Some cus-
tomers have been coming for decades.
“It’s good work. They are happy to get
their product,” Jackie said. Customer vol-
ume has been high in recent years, partly
reflecting growth in southwest Idaho.
Bryan said Williams Fruit Ranch has re-
cently begun to receive more requests to use
the rolling property, on a rise overlooking
town, as a backdrop for engagement, wed-
ding and family photographs.
He said his dad enjoyed sharing informa-
tion with neighbors, including fellow food
producers, about fruit production and the
local area in general.
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