The new year kicked off with some new alignments in the Washington tree fruit industry, following the closure of the Sage Fruit sales desk at the end of 2024. 

It’s yet another sign of the challenges facing the tree fruit industry.

Sage Fruit represented a partnership between vertically integrated fruit companies based in the Yakima Valley: Legacy Fruit, Valicoff Fruit Co., Olympic Fruit and Congdon Orchards. In 2022, Chelan Fruit joined Sage Fruit.

Now, those companies are headed their separate ways. 

Olympic Fruit and Congdon Orchards will join Rainier Fruit, company representatives confirmed.

“The grower-packers’ varietal mixes will perfectly compliment Rainier’s menu, increasing supply of consumer-favorite Honeycrisp and Cosmic Crisp apples as well as the top pear varietals,” according to a statement from Rainier Fruit.

Legacy Fruit and Chelan Fruit, both owned by PNW Tree Fruit — International Farming’s umbrella company for its orchard and warehouse operations in the Pacific Northwest — will join CMI Orchards, according to a company representative. 

Valicoff Fruit did not return requests for comment. 

Dean Gardner, a former executive at Legacy Fruit and a self-styled industry watchdog who shares tree fruit news, trends and analysis on LinkedIn, said the Sage Fruit closure is a sign of the times as the industry struggles with an apple oversupply and low returns.

“I’ve been part of the Sage family for years, and it’s sad, extremely sad,” he said. “What it comes down to is we grow too many apples here. What’s killing everybody today is retailers are able to buy most apples for below the cost of production.”

Unfortunately, right-sizing the industry necessitates removing orchards and closures of packing lines and sales desks, Gardner added.

“Until that happens, this industry is going to be in pain,” he said. 

by Kate Prengaman