About
The Easterday Produce Company
Our Story
From planting to packaging, the Easterday family is actively involved in all aspects of delivering high-quality produce that you can trust. Operating our family-owned farming business with a unique balance, we merge economic and efficient scale with detailed attention to ensure customer satisfaction. We take pride in growing and packing conventionally raised onions and potatoes.
Columbia Basin's generous sunlight, mineral-rich soil, and water create an ideal environment for our potatoes and onions. Regional land and weather allow us to manage water and nutrient supply to the plants effectively, ensuring sustainable yields and affordable produce for our customers. Utilizing the latest farming and post-harvest technologies, we're committed to providing onions and potatoes that are high-quality, safe, sustainable, and affordable.
Our History
Deeply immersed in Washington State agriculture, especially within the onion and potato industry, the Easterday family boasts a rich and resilient legacy. In 1958, Ervin Easterday took a significant leap, relocating his family and farming operation from Nampa, Idaho, to southeastern Washington. Here, he invested in 300 acres of virgin land under the new Columbia Basin Reclamation Irrigation project.
Despite a scant annual rainfall of only 7 inches, the vital water supply from the Grand Coulee Dam forever transformed the landscape. A young Gale Easterday, Ervin's son, devoted seemingly infinite hours leveling and clearing this new land, ensuring water would flow down the furrows correctly.
​
The prospect of "fresh dirt" proved a powerful motivator, rewarding the considerable work and resilience needed for farming success in the Columbia Basin. The Easterday women—our grandmothers, aunts, and mother—played a pivotal role, showcasing both spirit and determination through the initial, demanding years before 'circle' pivot irrigation and paved roads were introduced. Confronted with the challenges of establishing a new home in this area, they skillfully transitioned from homemakers to vital roles—such as tractor and truck driving, cattle herding, and water-changing—whenever additional support was required.
By 1979, Gale and Karen Easterday became the sole owners of Easterday Farms, with their five children lending helping hands on the farm. A decade later, their son, Cody, joined as a partner, reviving the father-son enterprise that characterized Easterday Farms. Though Gale Easterday passed in December 2020, his countless mentoring hours profoundly prepared his grandsons—Cole, Clay, and Cutter—for the intricacies of farm operations. Alongside their wives, Mary (Cole) and Morgan (Clay), the grandsons are adeptly integrating generational wisdom with innovative approaches to maintain the production of high-quality onions and potatoes for Easterday Produce Company and their customers.
​
Our cousins, the Weyns family of Royal City, Washington, are also partners and growers. In addition to yellow onions and potatoes, they grow most of the red and white onions for Easterday Produce Company. Ko and Kees Weyns and their families carry on the tradition of their grandfather, Ervin Easterday, with their passion for farming.
​
In 2021, Jared and Donna Easterday embarked on their own journey of growing onions and potatoes for Easterday Produce, a seamless transition considering Jared's father, Bill (Gale’s brother), has been a vital cog in our business for over 25 years, pioneering and constructing packing solutions across our facilities.
​
We proudly welcome a vibrant new generation of farmers who embody not only a sustainable approach but also an invigorating and open attitude towards the future of farming. Their proactive, adaptable spirit aligns with our vision as we forge ahead.
​
Easterday Produce Company was launched in 1995. Jody Easterday, joined by her husband Andrew Wills and with the invaluable support of her father and brother, has taken the business from very humble beginnings to where it is today. What started as a small business to support our home farm in Basin City, Washington, now handles the storage, packing, transportation, and marketing of fresh onions and potatoes across more than 9,000 acres.
