The World Loves Apple Farmers to the Core

For many American farms, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. The Robison and Stennes family orchards combined equal more than 200 years of growing apples in Washington.

The Robison family has been growing apples in Chelan, Washington since the 1950s. Today, Jake – the fourth generation of the Robison family – lives on the early-19th century plot that was used to grow some of the earliest apples to be harvested in Washington. The Stennes family has been growing apples in Pateros, Washington, for more than 130 years, and it continues to modernize its planting, crop management, and harvesting practices.

Both family farms view the recent trade win of India reopening its market to U.S. apples as beneficial for apple farmers across Washington. The Washington Apple Commission (WAC) and FAS India worked together to regain market access for American apple growers. After retaliatory tariffs were lifted last summer, $10.8 million of U.S. apples were exported to India. This had an almost immediate impact for American apple growers; the market in India opened at the beginning of apple-picking season up in the Pacific Northwest.

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