Duckwall Fruit continues legacy using advanced technologies

Above, Special Projects Manager Nathan Duckwall overlooks the final stage of Duckwall Fruit Company's new Unitec Presize Sorting machine, installed in 2020. He oversaw much of the work it took to coordinate getting the newest sorting equipment and technology from Italy to Odell.

ODELL — In the midst of a global pandemic, Duckwall Fruit began processing fruit with the help of some of the newest and most advanced technology in the world. In 2020, they partnered with Unisorting — a brand of the Unitec group — and the fruit packing plant opened their new Optical PreSize Defect sorting machine.

Today, they find themselves as one of the leaders in the fruit processing industry, yet their story began more than a century ago.

For more than 100 years Duckwall Fruit has been a staple in the Hood River Valley and beyond. Their journey began in 1919 when Duckwall brothers, John and William St. Clair, brought apples across the country from Hood River to Indiana. The positive response from buyers and consumers led John to travel overseas and market their fruit internationally and build export networks. In 1958, they moved their operations to Odell. A merger with Pooley Fruit in 1971 expanded the company. In the early 2000s, due to the volume of pears grown in the valley, Duckwall switched from packing apples, cherries and pears to packaging exclusively pears. From packing fruit in a small upper valley orchard to supplying pears internationally, Duckwall has sustained excellence in the fruit packing industry.

Miguel Chavez packs pears into boxes that will be sent around the world. Like many employees at Duckwall, Chavez has worked at the facility for over 35 years.

Their packing plant in Odell has seen significant changes in recent years. Major modifications include an upgrade to the technology used to process, wash, sort, pack and ship different pear varieties around the world. Unisorting is a brand of the Unitec company, which is based out of eastern Italy. The tech company aims to develop innovative and user-friendly technologies to reduce the costs of packing and processing, while also protecting the fragile nature of the fruit.

During the winter months, Duckwall mainly processes Anjou pears. Quality Control Manager Craig Mallon and Special Projects Manager Nathan Duckwall are thrilled with the new Optical PreSize Defect sorting machine for a number of reasons.

"Labor is a huge problem in our industry. And previously we were doing it all manually or individually by hand. So, it took a lot of people," said Duckwall.

The new Pear Sorting 3 system completes the work in a fraction of the time it once took 50 people a day to finish. In the Hood River Valley, the agriculture industry supplies many residents with a stable income. Duckwall emphasized that new technology did not displace workers. Instead, they moved those who were sorting to other departments throughout the facility.

Duckwall Quality Control Manager Craig Mallon points out defects in the fruit as imaged in a high-speed optical scan.

When Duckwall placed the initial order in 2019, Unitec began customizing the machinery and computer software to fit their specific needs.

The system was built, tested, and disassembled in Italy, then shipped to North America in 57 containers through the Port of Seattle, then transported to Odell.

Pandemic challenges

Getting the equipment out of Italy was a huge undertaking, said Duckwall Fruit President Ed Weathers. "It was a struggle. That is really when COVID started happening, prior to the machine being delivered. As you can imagine, it was a huge undertaking," Weathers said. "If you can remember back in time, Italy was a hotspot. A majority of the country was on lockdown. They (Unitec) were on the edge of being shut down." Import restrictions ordered by then-President Donald Trump targeted foreign manufactured goods, in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. But eventually the equipment and technicians arrived in Odell.

Unitec lobbied with the Italian government to let the Unitec employees travel to North America to set up the equipment. Eventually, they agreed to let them travel. And with a letter from Duckwall Fruit stating the technicians from Unitec were essential to their business, the Unitec employees sat in quarantine for two weeks before crossing the border, one step closer to success.

Allen Kenoyer from Hazel Technologies watches the first step in the Unitec and Unisorting Optical Presize sorting machine at the Duckwall Fruit facility.

Post-quarantine, Unitec workers arrived in Odell and got started assembling and testing the system one last time before handing control over to Duckwall Fruit.

"It was a pretty crazy time to try to undertake this magnitude of a project," said Duckwall. Three years later, the system continues to be fully operational."

Optical sorting

The pears begin their journey by being dumped into a pool of water, where pre-sorting happens by hand. Workers manually pick out leftover leaves and deformed pears that they find. The pears are washed and dried before they hit a conveyor belt on their way to the next step in the Optical Presize Defect Sorting machine. Occasionally, the fruit will be covered in wax to lengthen their lifespan in storage.

Once the orchard bins drop the fruit, they are put on their own track, which will lead them through a bin washer — basically a large scale dishwasher. Fruit that passes the computer's inspection will then be put back in the bins and prepared for packing.

Standing in front of the iconic Duckwall Fruit mural, from left to right, Craig Mallon, quality control manager; Sara Duckwall, project and communications director; Nathan Duckwall, special projects and maintenance manager; Ed Weathers, president and sales manager; and Wade Root, production manager.

Unitec custom built the presize sorter for Duckwall Fruit and added 12 lanes where the pears pass under an apparatus simply known as "the camera box." Each individual pear is digitally captured, and the computer software identifies different defects on the fruit, such as misshapen or discoloration around the outside of the fruit.

The fruit is then sorted based on a set of parameters centered around weight, size, color, and grade — overall quality of the pear.

The Unitec Pear Sorting 3 program is the computer software used, and Duckwall Fruit is anticipating the next edition of software — Pear Sorting 4 — to be released soon.

After the fruit is properly sorted, employees package the fruit by hand and the boxes are then loaded on pallets and shipped around the world.

Anjou pears fly by on a conveyor belt headed through the camera box for identification. The pears are photographed and the computer software can sort out fruit that is damaged or misshapen.

Different sizes of fruits are packed into different boxes. Each fruit is individually cloaked in a wax wrap for protection. When the iconic Duckwall Fruit boxes are full, they are either prepared for export or placed in several different coolers throughout the facilities. There are Common Storage coolers and Controlled Atmosphere coolers. "CS" coolers are for fruit that is ready to be shipped out at a moment's notice. The Controlled Atmosphere, or "CA" coolers, are specially designed to remove all oxygen from the air, which dramatically prolongs the lifespan of the fruit. A majority of the fruit packed is kept in Common Storage.

Duckwall said that Mexico is their biggest export market, with around 30% of their pears shipped south annually. Duckwall Fruit ships to every corner of the world; South America and the Middle East are other popular destinations.

After the tour, Weathers, Duckwall and Project and Communications Director Sara Duckwall took time to reflect on their family's legacy in Odell and around the world.

"We equally need our growers, our employees and our customers," said Weathers. "We feel like we’re a big company that acts like a small one. It's attention to detail. It's a family atmosphere. Every customer, every order and everything we do is super important to us."

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