This March, Auvil Fruit Company will celebrate its 90th year of delivering dessert quality fruit to consumers all over the world.
Starting with just 22-acres and a dream of offering consumers a beautiful and juicy piece of fruit with consistent flavor and nutrition, Grady Auvil, with the help of his brothers, Robert and David, cleared the land by hand and planted apples, apricots, and Bartlett pears.
In just over 10 years, the orchard nearly doubled its acreage and established the first Red Haven variety of peaches in the Northwest.
Ever the innovators, the Auvil brothers took every opportunity to learn new planting methods and grow new varieties, even when they were forced to rebuild their orchard on higher ground during the building phase of the Rocky Reach Dam and the development of Lake Entiat in the 1950s.
Auvil Fruit Company continued to expand in the 1960s, and not only introduced Red Gold Nectarines to the Northwest, but also co-founded the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission with the goal of setting the standard for education and the growth of Washington’s tree fruit industry through extensive research and applied science. In 1969, the commission was formally implemented by the Washington State Legislature and continues today.
Through this dedication to research and innovation, Auvil Fruit Company was not only the first commercial orchard to plant Granny Smith Apples but also the first to successfully market Rainier Cherries.
By the 1990s, our orchards had grown to over 1,000 acres. Decades of experience and commitment to excellence led to the construction of a new packing facility and the first commercial production of the Auvil Early Fuji apple, an apple with all the great Fuji characteristics and flavor but harvests several weeks earlier than traditional Fuji varieties.
In 1998, Grady Auvil’s perseverance and dedication were officially recognized by the State of Washington when Gov. Gary Locke presented him with Washington State’s highest honor, the Washington Medal of Merit.
Today, Auvil Fruit Company continues to be a leader in the premium fruit market and farms on 2,400 acres. Grady Auvil’s passion for supplying top quality fruit and his commitment to using innovative farming practices continues to be the driving force behind our company’s philosophy, “Where Passion Meets Flavor”, and positions Auvil Fruit Company to celebrate another 90 years of delivering delicious fruit to our customers.
