Growing with growers since 1946

Each year, Good Fruit Grower magazine presents its prestigious Good Fruit Grower of the Year Award to an inspiring and innovative fruit grower, orchard family, or orchard manager in North America.

Recipients are recognized for being good employers and good stewards of their resources and for their focus on growing quality fruit. They also have contributed to the success of the tree fruit industry as a whole.

Following are winners of the award since it began:

1997 Bruce Allen
Yakima, Washington
1998 Fleming Family
Orondo/Quincy, Washington
1999 Peters Family
Yakima, Washington
2000 Dave and George Allan
Yakima, Washington
2001 Gip Redman
Wapato, Washington
2002 Tom Mathison
Wenatchee, Washington
2003 Bailey Family
The Dalles, Oregon
2004 Warren Morgan
Quincy, Washington
2005 Denny Hayden
Pasco, Washington
2006 Norm Gutzwiler
Wenatchee, Washington
2007 Mike and Laura Mrachek
Malaga, Washington
2008 Ralph Broetje
Prescott, Washington
2009 Jim and Rena Doornink
Wapato, Washington
2010 John Carter
The Dalles, Oregon
2011 John, David, Ted, and Mark Rice
Gardners, Pennsylvania
2012 Scott Smith
Tonasket, Washington
2013 Jeff Colombini
Lodi, California
2014 Craig and Mike O’Brien
Prosser, Washington
2015 Brenton Roy
Prosser, Washington
2016 Bill and Mark Zirkle
Selah, Washington
2017 Mike Omeg
The Dalles, Oregon
The Plath Family, 2018 growers of the year (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)
2018 The Plath Family
Yakima, Washington
2019 Dain Craver
Royal City, Washington
Cover for the December 2020 issue of Good Fruit Grower magazine
2020 Rod Farrow
Waterport, New York
2021 Mike Robinson
Quincy, Washington
Good Fruit Grower December 2022 cover
2022 McDougall and Sons
Wenatchee, Washington
2023 Douglas Fruit
Pasco, Washington
2024 Tom Gausman
Chelan, Washington
2025 DeMarree Family
Williamson, New York