Growing with growers since 1946
  • May 1st 2026 Issue
  • Story by Ross Courtney
  • Photographs by Ross Courtney, TJ Mullinax
  • Los jefes in Washington’s fruit industry

    Longtime orchard and vineyard managers helped build industry with hard work and amnesty.

    — Lupe Muñoz, a longtime orchard manager, built his career and extended family with a third-grade education, affable personality, strong work ethic and huge break — amnesty from Ronald Reagan in 1986. He’s one of a sizable cohort of tree fruit managers from Latin America now aging out of the industry at a much different time for immigration.

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