Life In The World’s Breadbasket: West Mathison of Stemilt Growers On 5 Things You Need To Create A Successful Career In The Farming and Agriculture Industries

An Interview With Martita Mestey

People — Keep your team members close. The more you communicate and consider multiple different perspectives, the better you can come to a solution.

The war in Ukraine and catastrophic climate events have caused a global food crisis. This has highlighted the central role that the farming and agricultural industries play in sustaining society as we know it. In particular, it has highlighted the US Agricultural industry, and its role as the “Breadbasket of The World.” So what does it take to create a successful career for someone looking to enter the farming or agriculture industries? In this interview series, we are talking to leaders or principals in the farming and Ag industries who can talk about the future of modern farming and what it takes to create a successful career in the farming and agriculture industries. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing West Mathison.

West Mathison is part of the fifth generation of Mathison family farmers, and the current president of Stemilt Growers. West succeeded his grandfather and Stemilt founder, Tom Mathison, as president back in 2005 at the young age of 28. He is the son of Kyle Mathison, and older brother to Tate Mathison.

West grew up working in his family’s orchards on Stemilt Hill near Wenatchee, Washington. His first job, at age 6, was to make cookies and coffee to serve to the orchard crew during their break. As he climbed in age, so did his responsibilities in the orchard. Before becoming president, West had performed various roles throughout the company, including production, sales, human resources, and as executive vice president.

As president, West works to carry on the traditions his grandfather began while also working to prepare Stemilt for future growth. The tradition of innovation continues under West’s leadership, and is evident in Stemilt’s success with new varieties like Piñata® and SweeTango® apples. Whether it is bringing new varieties to market or enhancing facilities with state-of-the-art technologies, West works to see that Stemilt’s goal of growing fruit that delights consumers is met.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

Stemilt has been a family business since the start and with that, it has always been a big part of my life. I grew up working on the farm doing nearly every job around. I got my start at age 6 by making cookies and coffee to pass out during the orchard crew’s lunch breaks. From there, I continued to take on more responsibilities and over the years held various roles throughout the company, including working in the orchards, packing lines, sales, and human resources. I also spent a brief time gaining experience outside the company in grocery retail and consulting. In 2005, I transitioned to my current role as President/CEO as my grandfather and Stemilt founder retired. Today, I am the 5th generation within my family and am proud to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps and to continue the legacy of our family’s operation.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this fascinating career?

In 1999, my dad and I started an export company in Chile where we were buying cherries for cash and selling them to our customers on credit. This proved to be a very bad business strategy! When I was 22 years old, there was one time where the road to the port was closed one day because it was a religious holiday. I realized the shipping trucks full of our cherries had to drive an extra 5 hours to the port on a different route. Right then and there, I had to give the truck drivers extra diesel money out of pocket. Somehow, I got a hold of the steamboat captain who agreed to wait for the cherries to arrive later than expected!

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Honestly, there are two traits that really stick out most to me as being instrumental to my success and those would be Humility and Steadiness.

1. Humility — I think the most important character trait to have as a leader is humility. I’d describe it as being courageous enough to be really curious about understanding what other people are thinking. This allows good listening skills and having a better understanding of circumstances and nuances before passing judgment or providing my own direction.

One example for humility would be as a vertically integrated company from orchard to retail shelf the problems are usually a combination of multiple steps in the process. And it’s important to seek first to understand the circumstances and find the root cause before making judgements. I’ve found that deferring judgement allows for candid communication to flow which helps to clarify the action that is needed.

2. Steadiness — When it comes to cherries, or any highly perishable fruit, it can be the day before harvest when you’ve expended nearly 100% of the costs and done everything properly, but after a 60-minute rainstorm, the crop can be destroyed to the point where there is zero revenue. These kinds of unpredictable events require not only humility but a character trait of steadiness, because there is so much in agriculture that is out of our control and impacts the outcome. We’re always at the mercy of the weather where we grow our fruit and markets where we sell.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“People won’t always remember what you say or do but they’ll remember how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou

In our industry, we get to work with a wide spectrum of team members expanding from the orchard to retail executives. As leaders, we need to connect with everyone we work with emotionally and authentically.

Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the farming industry. The idea of farming has a very romantic and idyllic character to it, especially to some people living in a busy cosmopolitan context. Do you think now would be a good time for younger people with no farming history to get involved in the farming industry? Can you explain what you mean?

Agriculture is in great need of fresh ideas and new talent. Historically, farming was made up of small family businesses with limited career options. Since then, agriculture has grown to provide many career opportunities in all major facets of the business including supply chain, technology, finance, human capital, and etc. It’s a rewarding career to be part of growing food that nurtures people.

Where should a young person start if they would like to get into farming?

Many agriculture companies have internships which are a great way to get started. One way to start that relationship is by reaching out to companies directly. Another way is to track companies or find recruiters that work in agriculture because most careers are transferrable from non-agriculture to agriculture.

With greater attention being placed on the importance of the farming and Ag industries, what do you predict will be different about the farming and Ag sectors, over the next ten years?

Agriculture will only continue to require more adaptability. The relationships between our team members across all areas of business will be vital for the sustainability of the industry. We see it essential that our team members are fully engaged in their work by providing them an environment that is both physically and emotionally safe to work in and they are remunerated for their toil and hard work.

The profitability and margins have always been very slim in agriculture as it’s driven mostly by volatility of end markets. In the next 10 years, we will see improved supply forecasting models driven by the usage of AI, weather models, use of predictive analytics to improve supply chain planning, and reduce food waste and optimize the grower’s revenue. In agriculture, we manage time-based risk, so the sooner we know about constraints, the better we will be able to adapt.

I’m very passionate about trying to help minorities to become more engaged in gardening and urban farming. What do you think can be done to engage more minorities and people of color in the farming and Ag industries?

Gardening and urban farming is always an excellent way to connect work and food together. Our family business oversees over 10,000 acres of tree fruit farmland and even at that, my Saturday afternoon attention is usually on my tomato plants because there’s a primal connection in growing, seeing food grow, and consuming it that is extremely rewarding.

The most rewarding part of my job is seeing our team members grow from people who started out as farm workers and have evolved into management and executive roles. Then to see the children of our team members go on to graduate college and pursue other professions or come back to Stemilt.

Growing fruit is rewarding and fulfilling, but to see the growth and the fruit of our people is inspiring. At Stemilt, we exist to cultivate people and delight consumers through excellence because it is the excellent people who grow the delicious fruit. My personal mission statement is to break the cycle of poverty through agriculture, so this is constantly driving me and the decisions I make.

We all know that inflation is affecting so many parts of our lives. How does inflation affect farms? What steps have you taken to keep costs down?

The two biggest expenses in agriculture are labor costs and chemical or transportation costs.

Deep worker engagement is how we will improve productivity and that can be achieved through engagement surveys, human capital strategies and a focus on robust training of how to best communicate as a team with tactical training.

We take this so seriously that we use a third party called Equitable Food Initiative (EFI) to provide training to our teams at all levels of the business. We want each person at Stemilt to be their own best advocate so they feel they can fluidly bring up issues that their management, crew leaders, or supervisors knowing they will be receptive of it.

In terms of fertilizer and fuel, we’re using attributes of planning and adaptation of technology to better forecast the need for water and fertilizer usage to optimize the most tons per acre. The goal is to create the best field intelligence that can be communicated broadly and accurately to stakeholders further down the supply chain. The goal of this is to grow our fruit the best way possible based on the constraint of weather to capture the best pricing with the least amount of loss and shrink from the orchard to the consumer.

Here is the main question of our interview. Can you please share your “5 Things You Need To Create A Successful Career In The Farming and Agriculture Industries”?

1. Passion for Fruit — A passion for fruit is the satisfaction of our efforts. Your passion for fruit needs to be so contagious, you inspire others to crave the flavor, juice, and “wowness” of the fruit you grow.
2. People — Keep your team members close. The more you communicate and consider multiple different perspectives, the better you can come to a solution.
3. Community — You need to find a community where farming occurs. Part of the beauty of farming is that you are in a place where everyone is involved. You must enjoy where you’re at and who your people are. Let the fruit, your team members, and community inspire you because you’re a part of something much greater.
4. A Starting Point — Be part of the world where agriculture exists. You can choose to start in the orchard and in production, then work your way to management, sales, human capital, finance, IT, etc…
5. Volatility — Everything can change in an instant. You must be comfortable with fast change and problem solving to make the most of what you’re given.

If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I would like to inspire an appreciation for growers in others. It’s hard for people to appreciate the challenges of the weather, its impact on the quality of the fruit, market dynamic, and its impact on revenue when they can’t see it. Growers in agriculture are some of the most creative and adaptable entrepreneurs in business because of the broad scope of variables they must manage to have a successful outcome.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

To keep up with all things happening with Stemilt, check out our social channels @Stemilt on Twitter, FB, Youtube and Pinterest, as well as @StemiltFruit on Instagram. Plus, you can find more information on our produce and where to purchase on our website at Stemilt.com.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much, and we wish you only continued success.