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Without a lot of ideas from a lot of people on how to better handle fruit in 1903 by the Horticultural Union and once again in 1911 with the formation of the Yakima Valley Fruit Growers this company may never have been formed. This company was not brought about by one individual. This company was brought about by several hard working people with needs and new ideas, people that could see the future and what it was going to take to be a force in that future.

Snokist as you know it today came about because there was a serious need in the early 1900’s for a better way to pack, sell and distribute primarily apples. Up to this time most farmers were selling to trucker trade that came directly to the ranches as fruit and vegetables were being picked. These truckers generally spent a considerable amount of the farmer’s time just dickering on price, and then it might be for just a few boxes. Both the Yakima County Horticultural Union and the Yakima Valley Fruit Growers Association were formed basically for the same reasons; to centralize the packing, selling and distribution of these fruits and vegetables.

At the time of the formation of these two companies, growers were shipping fruit and vegetables no farther than the Puget Sound area to the west, and Coeur D’alene, Idaho, to the east. The primary reason for this was that they were trying to sell small quantities of various products and could not get favorable shipping rates from the railroads. One of the goals of both of these companies was to have enough product to be able to get these favorable rates and be able to ship to the larger markets of St. Louis, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

The Horticultural Union received the copyrights in 1907 for the Blue Ribbon and Red Ribbon labels you see here. To this day, these two labels still represent the highest grade of fruit put up by Snokist Growers fresh division.

In 1918, the Yakima Valley Fruit Growers Association changed their name to the Yakima Fruit Growers Association, or the Big Y as it was known for almost 50 years.

1920’s
The early 1920’s brought the first automated packing lines to the area. Up to this time packing was done by dumping boxes of fruit onto a table or into a tub to be packed. The individual packer had to make all the decisions concerning grade, color and size.

1930’s
Because of the depression there were plenty of poems about the hard times people faced in the fruit industry of the early 1930’s. One of these poems from an unknown school teacher from Omak, Washington follows. This will let you know that things haven’t changed too awfully much over the past 70 years as far as the growers side of growing fruit.

The Apple Game
When the wind gets in the north and pipes a lively tune. We gather up our rusty tools and prune and prune and prune. And when the spring is coming the beauteous month of May. “Tis then we fill our tanks with dope and spray and spray and spray. And when the frost comes down the land “Tis then we fill our pots with oil and smudge and smudge and smudge. In summer when the fruit has come and set on every limb “Tis then we put our ladders up and thin and thin and thin. When the limbs are weighted down and we’re afraid they’ll drop “Tis then we haul our scantling out and prop and prop and prop. When fall comes on and we’re afraid that work is getting slack “Tis then we rustle up a crew and pick and sort and pack. Right jolly are we Apple Friends our life is mostly play so when our season’s bills are due we pay and pay and pay. When costs are high and apples low and we’re inclined to balk we gather at the hall down town and talk and talk and talk. The only difference between then and now, is that the growers seem to meet at the coffee shop rather than the hall downtown.

1940’s
In the 1940’s primarily due to world war II, box making material was put at a premium and packing facilities were forced to look at a thing called corrugated, or card board boxes. Most pears were still being packed in wood, but it was found at this time that apples could be handled fairly well in this new product. Other than a few specialty packs put up today, everything is in some kind of corrugated container.

1950’s
In February of 1951 the Big Y started talking about the possible benefits of operating its own cannery. The problems of staffing with knowledgeable people, product availability, quality of raw product and the fact that growers would have to possibly wait as much as a year or more to get paid for some of their product were of concern. The Big Y did not get into the cannery business at that time but would in 1965 with the merger of the Hort. Union. It was also in 1951 that the Horticultural Union went into the cannery business at Terrace Heights, Washington.

The upper staff and the trustees of the Horticultural Union were invited to attend the 1955 annual meeting of the Yakima Fruit Growers Association. Discussions were starting to take place concerning the similarities of the two companies. Both were exceptionally strong in fresh fruit and one of them also now owned a cannery.

In 1965, the merger that had been rumored for several years finally came to pass. Two of the oldest, strongest and biggest fruit cooperatives in the nation merged to become, for a while, Blue Ribbon/Big Y Growers. Over the next year or so this really became a cumbersome name to remember and pronounce, with some people even calling it Big Ribbon/Blue Y Growers. For this reason and a few others, a name change to Snokist Growers was brought before the annual meeting for a vote on February 23rd, 1967 and with a vote of 157 to 41 these two companies became known as Snokist Growers. The Cooperative went on to become a worldwide producer and shipper of fresh cherries, prunes, plums, pears and apples, as well as one of the largest and most respected canners in the world with the canning of products such as cherries, plums, pears and apples.

In 2008, the Cooperative decided to exit fresh fruit packing and channel all resources into their larger fruit processing operation. As a company of 100+ years, the goal is to continue to bring to the market place the desired quality, consistency and packaging customers have come to expect.