Borton Fruit history

1920's While teaching for ten years, the Borton's expanded the family orchard to forty acres.

1928 In 1928, Byron E. purchased Cottonwood Orchard and continued farming in cooperation with his father.

Richard pursued a career in Electrical Engineering, while Byron S. and son Byron E. expanded their orchards by purchasing eighty acres from the American Fruit Growers in 1938.

1970's The Third generation ownership under leadership of Bill Borton (Byron E.'s son) and John Borton (Richard's son) has seen the most dramatic changes and growth.

The fruit was sold through a broker, but the orchards were expanded to approximately 240 acres by 1972.

1977 The first 3 rooms (5,500 bins) of Controlled Atmosphere storage in were added in 1977.

1979 In 1979, the original packing line and storage area burned down.

1980's Storage Expansion projects continued during the mid 1980s while orchard expansion continued at a rapid rate.

1981 The company formed their own sales department in 1981.

The additional volume produced prompted the construction of a second higher capacity packing line in 1989.

1990's During the early 1990's a new loading dock and staging area was added as well as storage expansion creating capacity for over 140,000 bins.

2000's Tradition and family continues to be a stronghold within the Borton & Sons organization.

In 2004, an additional 100,000 sq. ft. storage complex was built and that same year the company purchased an additional warehouse (W. Chestnut Plant) in Yakima that included 40,000 bins of storage, 2 packing lines, a pre-size line, and a cherry line.

In 2006, Borton Fruit purchased another packing facility located in Zillah, WA with another 40,000 bins of storage and two cherry packing lines, bringing their total storage capacity to 280,000 bins

2012 marked the 100th Anniversary for Borton Fruit.