WENATCHEE, WA - With the produce department on the frontlines of fresh, Stemilt Growers is answering the call to bring more insights and best practices to the teams that tip cherries right into the consumer basket. This summer, Stemilt is offering its in-person cherry education experience to the virtual stage for the inaugural Stemilt U: Virtual Cherry College webinar led by Tate Mathison, Stemilt's Director of Sales.

“One of the highlights of every summer is having produce friends visit our orchards to learn how World Famous Cherries go from our orchards to your grocery stores,” said Brianna Shales, Senior Marketing Manager. “Since COVID-19 has put a pause on in-person events, we pivoted and are now sharing the next best thing through this Virtual Cherry College webinar. It’s a great way to educate your entire produce or merchandising teams about where sweet cherries come from, how they are grown, and how to effectively market and merchandise cherries.”

The 60-minute webinar will be held on Wednesday, July 22 at 11 a.m. PST (1 p.m. CST and 2 p.m. EST). The webinar will take attendees through the cherry harvest, packing, and shipping process while showcasing the locales and differences of Stemilt’s season-long cherry program, according to a press release.

Featuring videos of Tate Mathison, and his father, fourth-generation cherry grower Kyle Mathison, the duo will discuss the environment cherries need to grow, show how cherries are harvested, hydrocooled, and packed, and explain their family’s farming roots that date back to the early 1900s. In addition, Roger Pepperl, Stemilt’s Marketing Director, and a former produce Buyer/Merchandiser, will share best practices for marketing and merchandising cherries. To top it off, the team will then host a Q&A session to ask the experts any pressing and curious cherry questions.

“It will be a packed hour of cherry education, entertaining family stories, and even a tour of our World Famous compost farm,” said Shales. “We encourage anyone in produce to attend, but designed this especially for produce buyers, merchandisers, ops specialists, and those on the frontlines—the hard-working produce managers and their team members.”

For added value, Stemilt University Online is an on-demand training program with cherry and apple courses that Stemilt introduced in 2019. The curriculum is video-based with a short quiz and certificate of completion, should you want even more reason to elevate your produce team.

“We really believe in educating retailers and produce teams about our World Famous Fruits,” said Shales. “The art of produce is something that is learned through time and experience, but we love to help that along by sharing our knowledge about apples, pears, and cherries with those who get to interact most with shoppers.”

Click here to register for Stemilt U: Virtual Cherry College. Registration is free and all registrants will receive a recording of the webinar for the benefit of continued insights.

A cherry for your thoughts? Why not!

Stemilt Growers