WENATCHEE, Wash. — West Mathison became president of Stemilt Growers Inc., of Wenatchee, five years ago when he was 28 years old.
Stemilt was then and still is the world's largest producer of fresh cherries and, with the acquisition of Wenatchee's Dovex Fruit Co. in March, is the nation's largest non-citrus tree fruit company.
Stemilt packs, sells and ships close to 20 million boxes of tree fruit annually, leading Washington's apple, cherry and pear industries.
Washington leads the nation in apples, cherries and pears with a combined value of those crops peaking at $2.3 billion in 2007, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
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