Our Growers

Family Farmers dedicated to bringing you the highest quality fruit products with a passion for preserving the quality of the land for generations to come.

Payson Fruit Growers

A story of tradition, longevity, and family, born of innovation and opportunity.

Montmorency Tart Cherries are grown in orchards nestled at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, fed by the winter snow run-off and valley wells, and cared for by the same families that founded Payson Fruit Growers in 1964.

Our orchards sit at an optimal location for cherry growing. The combination of elevation and nearby Utah Lake help our crops withstand Utah’s cool high desert mornings. Hot summer days are perfect for ripening and infusing our Montmorency Cherries with a higher “brix” or natural sweetness. We consider ourselves lucky to live in a place that’s both beautiful and uniquely suited to growing the crop we love with our family, friends, and community.

As a co-op of family farms, Payson Fruit Growers originally grew Montmorency cherries, a varietal that originated in Europe and found popularity in the America as “pie cherries,” a cherry renowned for its tartness and color and a staple of middle American cuisine.

https://www.montiestartcherries.com

Farmer holding cherries
Flower sketch
image of David, Mike, and Landon Rowley

Northwest Tart Cherry

Rowley and Hawkins Fruit Farms (RHFF) was founded in 1984. Fruit is in our blood and growing it has come natural to us for over 7 generations. Our motivation is “to grow great fruit to grow great families”. We not only strive for a high quality product but a product that is food safe. This process starts from the ground up from before the time the tree is planted with the soil nutrients, root stocks, irrigation systems and more. It is a process of about 5 years to nurture these trees before you get a real harvest. Each tree is pruned trained and tied to maximize sunlight penetration and air flow for effective spray penetration and to minimize bruising. It truly is a science.

Rowley and Hawkins Fruit Farms have entered the retail market with our own store FreshPicks, founded in 2013. We felt the need to get closer to the consumer to provide our quality local products direct to the consumer fresh from the “farm to their table”. We wanted people to be able to have confidence in to produce they buy, know where there product comes from, and to know the farmers that grow for them. With the store RHFF has expanded our branding with two additional brands Taste a treat for our processed goods including “SCORE” and FreshPicks for our fresh and retail products.

Our families believe that fruit is an important and essential part of a healthy and successful life. We do our best to provide the best fruit for you and your family.

www.tasteatreat.com

Cherry Sketch

Hackert Family Farms

Welcome to Hackert Family Farms

A fourth generation farm located in Mason County, Michigan. Producing quality fruit from the grower to you. Makers of Indian Summer.

http://hackertfamilyfarms.com/

hackert
mcmullin orchards
Flower Sketch

McMullin Orchards

Growing Delicious Quality Fruit Since 1927

Robert W. McMullin came from southern Utah in about 1918 to teach school in Nephi, Utah. He continued to pursue his interest in law and in 1921 he passed the Utah State Bar and became a licensed attorney. He moved to Payson in 1921 and was appointed Payson City attorney in 1922.
During the time he was involved in the law profession, his true interests were still with his roots in agriculture. During World War II, Dave, R. W.’s son ran the farms and raised fruit as well as grain for the war effort.
The current operation is headed by Robert McMullin, R. W.’s grandson. He is assisted in the operation of the processing plant and the orchards by his sister, Ann McMullin Dockstader, and his two brothers, David and William. The fourth generation of the family is now also becoming involved in the operation of McMullin Orchards.

As a family-owned and operated orchard, we strive to take care of the land so that future generations can enjoy and work the land as generations have before.

http://www.mcmullinorchards.com/

Apple Sketch

Schuyler Farms

Norfolk Cherry Company is a sour cherry packing and storage facility located in Norfolk County, Ontario. It is managed by a local Montmorency cherry grower (Schuyler Farms Limited) as part of a diversified family farming operation.

The organization was formed in 1974 when the only Montmorency cherry packing facility in the county ceased operations. Fruit is produced from our own orchards and from other Ontario growers and received during a two to three week packing season that usually runs from mid-July to early August. The cherries are then cooled, sorted, pitted (have the seeds removed), and frozen for long-term storage.

Located between Simcoe and Waterford, Schuyler Farms Limited is a multi-generation family run farming corporation incorporated in 1977.

www.norfolkcherry.ca

Schuyler Growers overhead view of orchard.
an image of a sweet cherry tree with an orchard and barn in the back drop
Cherry sketch

Empire Fruit

Empire Fruit is the name we go by today.  But our roots go back well over 50 years to Freeman Farms.

Freeman Farms is a multiple generational farm located in Othello, Washington on the eastern side of the state.  Growing up in California, Dave Freeman farmed with his father and grandfather until he moved to Othello in the early 1970s. He put down roots in this beautiful region where he not only started farming, again, but also started a family.  In the 1990s, Dave and his oldest son Jami decided to launch into cherry production, and began growing both sweet and tart Montmorency cherries.

In 2019, Freeman Farms decided it was time to grow and process their own fruit,  Freeman Farms acquired TPG Enterprises which is now known as Empire Fruit. At Empire Fruit,  we pack sweet cherries that go into yogurt, applesauce cups for school lunch programs, and Montmorency tart cherry concentrate to help you sleep better and recover faster!