Bill Zirkle Is Apple Grower Of The Year
August 1, 2009 
When you’re an apple grower in Eastern Washington, it might seem hard to stand out. After all, you’re in the heart of apple country, not only in the U.S., but from a global perspective as well. There’s quite a bit of competition all around you, which means you have to be driven to succeed in all areas of fruit production, from growing quality fruit in the orchard to knowing how to effectively market it. It’s a process that never ends, and in fact will only get more intense as the industry moves forward.
And yet, in spite of all this, Bill Zirkle of Zirkle Fruit Co. in Selah, WA, has helped his company stand out from others. Bill’s father, Lester, spent his entire life working in the orchard, and when Bill graduated college in 1964, he joined his dad on the farm, which at the time was about 33 acres. Since then, the company has grown to become one of the largest apple and cherry operations in the Yakima Valley, with multiple field locations from the border of Canada to the state line at Oregon. It does its own marketing through Rainier Fruit Co., and 80% of the fruit packed at Zirkle’s warehouses is its own.
However, the size of the operation is not the reason for Zirkle Fruit’s success. If you really want to know how the company came to be what it is today, just ask Bill Zirkle, American and Western Fruit Grower’s 2009 Apple Grower of the Year. He’ll tell you it comes down to three basic principles: focusing on quality, knowing your market, and having the right people around you.
From The Orchard Out
“Quality is in demand, and always will be,” says Zirkle. “That is what has differentiated us, both in growing and packaging.”
For Zirkle, this commitment to quality involves everything from paying attention to detail, to avoiding cutting corners, to harvesting on time. Above all, it means growing what the consumer wants, whether it’s size, color, flavor, sweetness, or crispness (more on all this later).
“There’s nothing unique about any of these; you just have to execute,” explains Zirkle. “If you do all of them right, and with attention to detail, there are generally good results.”
One thing Zirkle fully understands is that quality starts in the orchard.
“We have a modern facility for storage and packaging, but all these facilities are not a hospital for fruit,” says Zirkle. “The game is won or lost based on the success of the growing operation in the orchard.”
Market Awareness
Aside from knowing what your customers want in terms of quality, you also need to know what they expect in terms of variety.
“We try to identify what the consumer wants, and grow that, rather than try to sell what we have to offer,” says Zirkle.”People want different things, and varieties change, demand changes. We try to be quick to identify those changes and adapt quickly.”
Family Values
From its origins in the late 1800s, when Bill Zirkle’s ancestors first moved from the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia to Eastern Washington, Zirkle Fruit has been family owned. As a result, there have been many lessons about apple growing passed down from one generation to the next.
It was Bill’s father Lester who first pushed the importance of quality.
“My father always told me to grow quality fruit first, last, and always. People are always looking for an excellent piece of good quality eating fruit. You’ll always be successful if you work hard but smart. Grow the right thing and be willing to change. Find out what people’s desires, wants, and preferences are, and grow to their needs rather than try to sell them what you have.”
In recent years, Bill has passed these same values on to his son Mark. When asked about the lessons about apple growing his father has instilled in him, Mark says, “Apple growing is no different than any job. If you work hard, don’t be afraid to ask questions and always look for ways to be better — you should succeed.”
Bill was also able to pass his own dedication to the apple industry on to Mark.
“He did this by having me understand, at a young age, the breadth and scope of all aspects of the industry, from planting the trees to marketing the crop, and all points in between. It gave me a clear understanding of the challenges, which makes the victories more meaningful and fun.”
In Mark’s role as president of Zirkle Fruit Company, where does he plan to take the company in the future? “We want to go as far and to grow as much as we can, but still maintain excellence for ourselves, our employees, our customers, and our growers.” If he accomplishes this, he’ll no doubt be following in his father’s footsteps.
Zirkle believes that the only way to accomplish this goal is to do your own marketing. This was the primary factor in the formation of Rainier Fruit Co., which markets for Zirkle and five other similar fruit firms in central Washington.
“We’ve always done our own marketing, because we’ve always believed in that,” says Zirkle. “We have an integrated organization that is involved in growing, packing, and selling our fruit.”
In fact, Bill’s son Mark, at age 42, is president of both Zirkle Fruit and Rainier Fruit Co.
The relationship between Zirkle and Rainier, and the communication between the two, is critical to the success of the operation. One of the primary objectives at Rainier is following market trends, and passing that on to the grower side.
“We have a very close relationship between sales and the growing side,” says Zirkle. “The marketing arm is our ear to the ground, and they relay the information they hear from retailers and consumers back to the orchard.”
Those growers that are direct marketers are able to do this much easier, says Zirkle, but it’s important for any grower to be close to whoever’s marketing their fruit, and to identify trends of the future.
“You want to make sure you’re not continuing to grow and propagate varieties that may not be in demand in the future,” notes Zirkle. “You have to change and adapt quickly.”
A People Business
Like many growers, Bill Zirkle is quick to credit others with helping Zirkle Fruit develop into what it is today.
“We make every effort to involve high-quality, highly-qualified people, and most importantly, we let them do their job,” says Zirkle. “We grew people, as well as fruit.”
Bill probably sums it up best when he says, “The success of Zirkle and Rainier Fruit is not and never has been because of just one person. It’s not just Bill Zirkle; it has always been the Zirkle family and dedicated, key people. A ‘team’ runs both Zirkle and Rainier Fruit with key people in all areas; growing, marketing, packaging, and so on.”
The importance of surrounding yourself with good people is true not only for who you employ, but also in how you work with your peers. And in that regard, Zirkle has plenty of experience. There’s a long list of industry organizations Bill’s been involved with, including the Yakima Valley Grower-Shipper Association, the Northwest Horticultural Council, the Washington Apple Commission, and the U.S. Apple Association. In many of these groups, he has held leadership positions at both the committee and executive level.
The knowledge he has gained from these partnerships has been invaluable.
“It’s been a vehicle for me to visit with and become acquainted with others in the industry, both statewide and nationally. That’s been a rewarding experience,” he says. “You soak up other ideas, even if you don’t know it at the time. You can’t have those relationships without learning something.”
Eye On The Future
It’s taken a strong focus in all of these areas to shape Zirkle Fruit into one of the nation’s leading apple-growing operations. But as you can imagine, the company is not interested in stopping there. Every decision made by the Zirkle family of key, dedicated people is done so with an eye toward the future.
One area Zirkle is paying particularly close attention to is variety selection.
“We are presently upgrading our existing acreage, rather than adding more,” says Zirkle. “When it comes to new varieties, with consumers having less dispensable income, we are trying to identify where the most value to them will be.”
Zirkle is also developing two of its own varieties, Lady Alice (named after Bill’s mother) and a European variety called Diva. Lady Alice was a chance seedling found growing in Naches, WA. Rainier Fruit has the exclusive selling rights to this characteristical heirloom variety. According to Zirkle, it has a complex flavor exhibiting hints of almond or maraschino cherry, and a somewhat tart finish. It has bright pinkish-red coloring over an almost banana yellow background and exceptionally dense flesh. So far, consumers and retailers have responded well to the apple.
Diva is a variety out of Switzerland for which Zirkle Fruit Company has secured exclusive growing rights and Rainier Fruit has exclusive selling rights within the Western Hemisphere. It has a bright-red color with a tangy, crisp, and very juicy flavor profile. “We have high expectations regarding its performance in Washington,” says Zirkle.
Outside of varieties, there are other future trends Zirkle makes note of.
– “We’re doing more organic and finding ways to make it workable rather than ways to say why it can’t be done.”
– “We’re big on nutrition. Rather than pouring on nitrogen, we try to find balance with respect to what the plant needs. There are different soils in different areas where we farm; one size doesn’t fit all.”
– “We do a lot of blossom thinning, and we’re improving our technique.”
– “We’re building more housing for our farm workers, and we’ve worked hard to provide a good work environment, good wages, and a strong relationship with our workforce so that we can count on them each year.” Labor has not been a big problem this year, says Zirkle, but the changes that may come forward with regard to migrant labor mean they can’t afford to be complacent.
In recent years, Bill’s son Mark has stepped in to assume the presidency of both Zirkle and Rainier Fruit. However, there’s no doubt Bill will always be tied to the land. “I was born and raised on an apple orchard. I’ve never really done anything else, and it’s where I want to stay.”
Words Of Support
The selection of Bill Zirkle as the 2009 Apple Grower of the Year was not taken lightly. Zirkle received multiple nominations for this year’s award. Here is a sampling of some of the comments we received on his behalf.
– “When I stand back and look across the tree fruit industry, one specific innovator, one most progressive person stands out quite clearly. With an exceptional intellect and driving focus on quality, Bill Zirkle has built perhaps the largest sales company in the U.S. for fresh tree fruit and a multi-million dollar packing and storage operation that is beyond state-of-the-art. His personal production volume and quality is in the very top echelon of U.S. producers. Bill’s most stellar asset is his ability to choose and empower quality talented individuals that, under his wing, successfully manage the wide-ranging operation that Zirkle Fruit Company is today. In the 20 years I have known Bill, he continues to focus on hands-on involvement with virtually every applicable association.”
– “Bill has built one of North America’s largest grower/shipper/marketing organizations, shipping quality apples and other fruit not only to customers in the U.S., but to more than 40 countries around the world. He has been able to accomplish this high degree of success by delivering a very high-quality product with a high degree of service. Throughout his career, he has always found time to give back to the industry. He has served on the board of the Yakima Valley Grower-Shipper Association, the Northwest Horticultural Council, the Washington Apple Commission, and the U.S. Apple Association. On many of these boards he has held leadership positions at both the committee and executive level.”
– “Bill Zirkle has built a highly thought-of fruit growing operation in a very short period of time. It would be hard to find someone who has had more success in the fruit industry over the last 20 years.”
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