Orchard View Farms – I am Oregon Agriculture

I am Ken Bailey, fourth-generation orchardist at Orchard View Farms in The Dalles, Oregon.

I am Oregon agriculture.

My name is Ken Bailey and I am part of Orchard View Farms, a fourth-generation farm based in The Dalles that specializes in growing, harvesting and packing fresh cherries. We manage 2,150 acres of sweet cherries using sustainable farming methods in and adjacent to the Columbia River Gorge.

Our primary sales are fresh cherries destined for premium markets all over the world.  Each year approximately half of our cherries are sold in markets all across North America including Portland, and other major cities across the United States and Canada from Los Angeles and Vancouver, British Columbia on the West Coast to Boston, New York and Atlanta on the East Coast. The other half of our cherries go to countries around the world. China is the largest foreign market with the remainder going into Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia in Southeast Asia, Brazil & Costa Rica in South America and many countries in Europe.

Sorters at Orchard View Farms sort Bing cherries on the main line. The sorters remove any cherries that are immature, overripe, too soft or have defects like bird bites, rain cracks or bruises.

Workers fill Rainier bags using plastic templates to hold the bags while the cherries are put into them. There are twelve 1.25 pound bags in each box that is packed.