Our network of growers spans more than 11,000 acres of prime apple-growing land. They are passionate people who take pride in producing quality, flavorful fruit. Many of our growers come from multi-generational family farms and were born with “green thumbs”.
In 1935, Walter E. Swindeman, Sr. a wholesale grocery salesman noticed the poor-quality apples in the surrounding area stores. At that thought, he told his wife, “When I retire, I am going to raise good apples as a hobby, then go back and call my old customers and supply them with the best quality apples”. This is what gave Walter the incentive to begin Applewood Orchards. From there, he planted 600 trees on the original 16 acres of Applewood land. When the trees started to produce, he stored the fruit in the basement of his garage and sold the fruit out of his garage. Before long, he started to handle fruit for other apple growers in the area so he could supply his old grocery customers as well as local retail trade. Walter’s son, Bernie, grew up on the farm helping his dad and was able to save money to buy land and set up an orchard of his own in his teen years.
In 1955, Bernie and his wife took full control of the family operations and continued to expand the little farm business. In 1958, they built one of the first Controlled Atmosphere (CA) rooms in the United States. The family business had expanded to supply several major chain stores, and Applewood Orchards was incorporated in 1963.
In the mid-1970s, Bernie’s sons, Steve, Scott, and Jim, got involved in running the family business. The three sons now run the company along with the fourth generation, Scott’s son Michael and Jim’s sons Brandt and Trent. Applewood has grown to 350 acres of apples, has multiple grower-packer relationships, and now ships to numerous areas in the U.S. and exports to several countries. Today, Applewood Orchards, LLC is successfully acquired by FirstFruits Farms of Washington to become the first nationwide apple supplier and continues to provide customers with consistent, high-quality apples.
Apples:
When Patrick was younger he worked with his father, Bill, on their small family orchard. In 2004, he began renting orchards in the area—subsequently, purchasing additional farms and taking over the family farm from his father. Patrick has steadily planted new trees of popular varieties such as Gala, Honeycrisp, and Fuji. He has also invested in fans for most of his farms to move warmer air from above to prevent frost damage to blossoms in the spring.
Apples:
Steffens Orchards is a family-farm operation currently operating over 300 acres of apples. The Steffens family arrived from Germany in 1846 and settled in Alpine Township in 1852. The parcel where the farm market is, was purchased in 1983—at that time, not even one apple tree existed there. Today, Rob and Christine Steffens, the fourth generation, own, operate, and manage the farms and market.
Apples:
In 2011, Ryan purchased his first 40 acres of open ground where he planted all apples. Then, in 2015, he purchased an additional 80 acres of apples trees, now owning roughly 120 acres. Apart from being a remarkable dad to three beautiful children, Ryan enjoys doing business alongside his father and brother keeping the family traditions alive.
Apples:
Ron Rasch is said to be one of the best apples growers in the Grand Rapids area. With the mix of traditional practices and introduction of improved efficiencies, Ron has focused much of his life to growing delicious apples for people to enjoy. He currently owns 800 acres in Belding, the Ridge, and Fremont areas of Michigan. He began his journey back in 1973 working in the packing shed alongside his grandfather and dad while attending Michigan State University for a degree in Agriculture Business. His son, Matthew has followed in his footsteps by joining the operations of his farms and plans to continue his family’s legacy. Ron’s favorite apple is the SweeTango®, due to its packed-punch of flavor, crunch, and growing process.
Apples:
Randy Kober is a fifth-generation apple grower who bought his first farm in 2009. Since then, he has added 100 acres. Randy enjoys all aspects of farming, from planting the trees and harvesting the apples, to filling his controlled atmosphere storage and trucking the fruit when it is sold. He adores his four children and wife Kaitlyn, as family is one of the most important aspects of his life. Giving children a place to learn, live, and love apples is what he does best, and hopes to carry that onto future generations.
Apples:
Rodney is a fourth-generation farmer with 300 acres. In 2018, their farm became a Centennial farm, meaning his farm has been continuously owned by the family for at least 100 years. Rodney, accompanied by his wife Denise, is blessed to farm with his two sons, Ryan and Randy (fifth-generation growers), and continues to evolve with them in the apple industry. In 2020, they added a new controlled atmosphere storage to the farm and continue to expand with new technological efficiencies.
Apples:
Growing up, Caleb Coulter worked on his grandfather’s farm. When his grandfather needed help he would assist on any task around the farm observing and getting a grip on what it takes to be a farmer. Caleb Explained: “Since then farming is all I ever wanted to do, plus I only wanted to be like my grandfather.” Just 13 farmer generations later in the family; Caleb Coulter is enjoying what he does in carrying out that family tradition in farming.
The Asparagus Season in Michigan lasts from approx. May 10th – June 25th. This is a tight window for the harvesting season, so New Era’s American Asparagus must be sharp day in and day out on production. Product trace-ability is a priority, every box/label is accounted for from when it is filled with product to when it is shipped to the customer. Caleb is in his 22nd year of Farming, and 3rd year of Packing at the farm.
What separates New Era’s American Asparagus from any Asparagus packing shed in the entire state is that product is cooled with a Hydrocooler immediately after harvest. The product is then placed in a cooler prior to packing inside a completely refrigerated packing room. Caleb Explained: “We keep this process as short as possible to increase our customer’s shelf life & quality of the product.” New Era’s American Asparagus grows over 300 acres and manages an additional 600+ acres. New Era’s American Asparagus Packing, LLC. Represents a grower base of over 1,600 acres of Fresh Michigan Asparagus grown along the Shores of Lake Michigan.
Crop:
Growing up, Caleb Coulter said that he started working in the apple orchards by the time he could walk. He would tag along with his Grandpa daily and often “I spent many of my childhood days napping on the fender of a tractor as I rode along.” Caleb purchased his first 100-acre Farm in the Fall of 1996 right after graduating high school. At that time, he grew Pickles to finance planting more orchards to expand. Overall, Caleb has been on his own for over 20 years now and has over 35 years in experience around Apples.
Today; American Apple, LLC. Grows over 180 acres across 13 varieties of Michigan Apples just 7 miles inland from shores of beautiful Lake Michigan. This gives American Apple, LLC. Excellent growing conditions during most seasons with frost protection from the lake in the spring & cooler nights along the fall seasons. This allows American Apple, LLC. To pack premium flavored apples along with excellent coloring on some of the hard to color Apple varieties.
Production at American Apple, LLC. Is high quality and state-of-the-art packing facility. It is designed to be very energy efficient with the most advanced refrigeration for apples available with no ammonia in use. The fruit is all harvested on trailers a very unique way of harvesting fruit. The boxes never come in contact with the ground at the orchard. This gives American Apple LLC. the ability to keep the suburb freshness from when the fruit is picked to when it gets moved inside to the cooler. Each day American Apple, LLC. picks the fruit; it is put in the cooler by the end of the day. The goal is to get the fruit into the coolers within the hour of harvest.
Crop: Apples
Umlor Orchards, Inc., operated by the Umlor Family for over three generations, is a family-run packer and grower located in Conklin, Michigan. The company’s roots run deep in Michigan, dating back to 1958. Alongside a packing facility and storage, the Umlor family has 350+ acres of apple land in the Conklin, Shelby, and Hart areas. Throughout their operations, they utilize 14 controlled atmosphere rooms.
Crop: Apples
We represent an amazing group of growers that inspire our mission: to bring quality apples and amazing flavor to market. At Applewood Fresh, we consider ourselves more than just customer service (but we excel at that too). We are in the business of cultivating relationships. That means our strategy to representation is not a one-size-fits-all. We approach each one of our growers uniquely. We start with listening, learning, and understanding. Then we take it from there.
