Isaac Balderas, a young grower from Wenatchee, Washington

family background/ Isaac is second-generation in the fruit industry. He is one of three sons of Silvia Muñiz and Carlos Balderas.
age/ 34
hometown/ Wenatchee, Washington
crops/ apples and cherries
role/ production manager
business/ Columbia Fruit Packers, Wenatchee

How did you get your start?

When I started, I was 20 years old and I did a lot of general labor, which is bagging, sorting, writing up tickets, driving forklift, making boxes, unloading trucks and working in the shipping office.

I then applied to be a supervisor, where I ran three different packing lines for 10 years, and then from there, a position opened up in management. I continued to run those packing lines throughout the whole process, and each packing line was a little different, so there was always a different challenge.

Right now, I’m in charge of production of apples and cherries — packaging, organic certifications, everything that relates to management of the production level.

How have things changed since you began?

A lot of things were done on paper and there was a larger labor force, a lot of people everywhere. As the years passed, technology started to improve, including color sorting electronically, new machines to sort and tag fruit faster. We looked at how can we separate the fruit using better information to make those decisions. This has been an ongoing process and a challenge since I started.

Ten to 12 years ago, we used to have a lot of hand sorters, because we didn’t have the technology for electronic sorting. Over the years we put in new lines and now, all that work is done by a machine. That process of having a lot of people manually looking at cherries is done by a machine, and it only takes one operator.

That person makes the color maps and defect maps, adjusting parameters up and down and keeping records of what’s being done. So, we went from having 50 to 60 people sorting to one operator. A challenge with that change is finding the right people to do that job — someone who likes it and enjoys working with computers, because there’s a lot of weight on that one position.

What makes your job exciting?

What’s exciting is knowing that machine-sorted fruit is not as simple as some people think that is. Yes, you take the fruit and put it in a box. However, the process involves looking at each fruit, recording all the information, putting them into rooms where the apples are put to sleep before opening the line up again and then putting them through the final packing line before they go out our door.

The process is huge. From receiving, putting them into a cold room, then packing, storing, then shipping, each step must go really fast. For cherries, going even faster is important.

From the time we get the cherries into the packing house, the fruit must be shipped out to customers in about a day. It’s exciting to see all of the processes and to be involved with all the departments. I can follow and connect the dots from the time the fruit arrives, to when it ships, until it is delivered.

For me, it’s exciting showing up to work and talking with the team about the program and the target we are looking to achieve for the day.

What would you tell other young growers about working in your field?

Once you graduate from high school, you can work in the warehouse and get a taste of what it’s like. If you decide to go to college, you can learn engineering, accounting or information technology. We are always looking for people in these fields.

The packing house is more than just putting fruit in the box. There’s a lot that happens behind it. We need people who can help us design and improve packing lines and can say, “If you do this, you could pack more efficiently and faster.” We need people like that who can guide us toward a better direction.

The fruit industry needs more IT personnel because technology in the packing line is growing. I think a perception in the IT industry is that you should find jobs in big corporations, however the ag industry is adding all this new technology, and we need people to manage it. Ag is a big industry, and I always recommend graduates to come and look into what is available.