Country Life Special Section • Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Gardening • CL2 4-H • CL3 Berries • CL4
Washington Big raspberry year, but Tractor on steady changes lie ahead for industry growth curve Company up to 12 stores with recent acquisition By Tim Newcomb tim@lyndentribune.com
LYNDEN — John Deere told its Washington-based independent dealers over three years ago that if they merged together things would go well for them. Jim Hale, president and CEO of the statewide Washington Tractor company, said John Deere was absolutely right. Washington Tractor, which formed in 2010 by merging three companies (representing four families), went through its first acqui-
sition, buying Barnett Implement and its three retail shops, in October. While Washington Tractor had added a fifth family to the merger group, bringing in Okanogan in 2012, Barnett “was the first time where we stepped out and actually bought somebody,” Hale said. Based in Mount Vernon, but also with retail locations in Snohomish and Yakima, the Barnett father-son team of Jerry and Bill Rindal were great neighbors and friends for 37 years, Hale said. But as John Deere continues to push for consolidation, growing continues to make sense for the “long-term viability and sustainability” of Washington See Tractor on CL3
Domingo Villalobos does the highly skilled work of pruning and tying raspberry canes on the Randy Honcoop farm north of Lynden. (Calvin Bratt/Lynden Tribune)
State commission board may be revamped; national council now in effect as well By Calvin Bratt editor@lyndentribune.com
LYNDEN — Fresh off their secondbiggest harvest ever, Whatcom County raspberry growers move on toward other challenges and changes. It was indeed a great year of ideal weather for the July and August crop, said
Randy Honcoop, who grows 50 acres of fruit on Northwood Road. The weather blessing showed up in a total yield of 63.7 million pounds across the county’s 9,000-plus acres in red raspberries. Only the 66.4 million pounds of 2011 eclipsed that mark. The numbers for the state and region were released by the locally based Washington Red Raspberry Commission on Oct. 28. Lynden is practically the center of red raspberries grown for processing on the North American continent. Still, there are plenty of areas to watch to make sure that a viable industry is maintained into the future, Honcoop said.
“We don’t see the yields (per acre) that we used to — that’s the long and short of it. Maybe a new variety will give us a new bump on that,” he said. Speaking of varieties, the Meeker has been dominant for over 30 years, and still is. But other varieties are in the mix, and one that is on an upswing in plantings is the Wakefield variety developed by the Northwest Plant Co. of the Enfield family of Lynden. More than 500,000 Wakefield plants were sold in 2013, ahead of all other upstart varieties, according to the November newsletter of the raspberry commisSee Berries on CL4
Jim Hale, right, said acquiring Barnett Implement on Oct. 31 was the right step for Washington Tractor.
Corner of the Guide and Main, Lynden • 360-354-2186 Fall Store Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00AM-5:00PM, Saturday, 8AM-1PM