Second-generation orchardist Ray “Bud” Redman, Jr., who was one of the first to grow nectarines in Washington State’s Yakima Valley, liked the challenge of producing soft fruits and learning how to improve fruit quality during his lifelong career in the fruit industry. Redman, 83, died in October. Redman’s father planted the family’s first soft fruit orchard in Wapato, Washington, in 1932 and built a small packing shed in 1940. The family diversified into apples in the 1950s. The Redman family, pioneers of defuzzed peaches, helped establish the fresh stone fruit industry in Yakima Valley at a time when most peaches […]