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household background/ Robert is a fourth-generation farmer who studied enterprise and accounting at Central Washington College earlier than returning to the household farm. He’s the son of Kathy and Rick Pittman, and his grandfather was Harold Pittman.
age/ 33
hometown/ Manson, Washington
crops/ apples and pears
position/ crop supervisor
enterprise/ Pitt-Cease Orchards
Why did you go into farming?
I imagine it’s essential to like to be outdoors to be a farmer and in addition place a excessive worth on the time you spend with your loved ones. Once I acquired house from faculty, my mother and pa had been house for dinner each evening, as a result of he spent his early mornings within the orchard. That was an enormous factor for me when searching for a profession. I might have accomplished different issues and possibly made a heck of much more cash than what I’m doing now, however I wouldn’t be anyplace as joyful as I’m proper now. Farming is greater than a greenback worth. You’re going to be rather a lot happier being with your loved ones, your shut associates and your co-workers. It’s superior.
What’s the household’s historical past in farming?
My grandfather was in enterprise with Boeing, then he began Pittman Bros. Orchards and beloved it. He was rather a lot happier switching to agriculture and dealing for himself and along with his brother. My father did one thing related: labored as an engineer, made some huge cash, didn’t have numerous household time. He acquired away from that when he went into farming. He realized he ought to’ve gone into ag sooner in his profession. For me, I went to school loving robotics and wished to enter IT as a profession. I noticed the writing on the wall that numerous expertise was heading to the farm, and I believed it might have a rising impression on how we produce fruit. Once I returned, I used to be answerable for bringing expertise and trendy methods to the farm to enhance what we do.
What had been a few of your challenges getting began?
Once I got here again, every little thing was fairly outdated. We didn’t have any trendy varieties — didn’t even have any Honeycrisp. The latest selection we had was from the ’80s, with the Fujis in all probability being our most trendy crop. One of many causes my grandfather didn’t like lots of the new varieties was due to tree well being administration. Even when everybody stated they tasted nice, it didn’t matter as a result of they had been laborious to develop. One of many first issues I did was search for new varieties that will even be a really wholesome tree to handle. And not using a wholesome tree, you’re not going to have a wholesome crop. I used to be searching for one of the best high-coloring selection and appreciated the storage qualities of Cosmic Crisp (WA 38) and SugarBee. Listening to that WA 38 is an apple that may go within the grocery retailer or your fridge and it stays good for a month blew me away. I believed — wow — that’s fully totally different than numerous the outdated varieties that you simply minimize as much as eat, and for those who don’t eat them instantly, they’re beginning to flip brown and get unhealthy. Storage of the fruit is all the time a giant, huge factor with shifting your product worldwide. So, if it shops higher, it is best to have the ability to promote that apple properly over a larger time period. That’s the place the older varieties like a Golden Scrumptious battle as a result of they’re finest recent off the tree. They’re an ideal apple, however they decay so quick, it’s extraordinarily laborious to get these into the market on the appropriate time.
What’s your perspective with working a small farm?
The most important factor for a small farm is ensuring your high quality is healthier than another grower. The one manner you’re going to be worthwhile is once you produce the highest-quality fruit since you don’t have the amount to supply a second-grade fruit. It’s simply not going to work. It’s extraordinarily hands-on work for certain, and when you have older timber and varieties that don’t coloration properly, it’s powerful. You’re compelled to attempt totally different pruning methods, spraying or irrigation processes to attempt to get as a lot coloration into these fruits as potential. The market calls for good coloration. And if the fruit isn’t worthwhile as a result of your coloration isn’t there, you’ll need to take a leap and do one thing like graft a brand new apple selection onto that older tree and roll the cube on one thing which will work or could not.
—by TJ Mullinax
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