Joe Rasch Orchards, Inc.
Years in Industry: Joe grew up on an apple farm and has been involved with the apple industry his entire life
Family: Wife Mary, son Rob and daughters, Jessica, Katie, Emily and Liz
Memberships: MACMA, IFTA, Michigan State Horticultural Society, Michigan State Pomsters
Joe grew up in Conklin, where he attended West Catholic High School. After he graduated, he spent six months in New Zealand working in an apple orchard. His family owned an apple farm, which is how Joe and his brother got into the apple business. Joe and his brother started farming on their own in 1984 and in 2006, they split and Joe Rasch Orchards, Inc. was established. Now Joe harvests 450 acres of land and the majority of the apples from Joe Rasch Orchards, Inc. are shipped to WalMart and Publix in the US.
Joe is one of 1,250 people who are members of the Michigan State Horticultural Society. The Society co-hosts the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo, along with the Michigan Vegetable Council each December.
The biggest challenges Joe believes the fruit industry faces in the future are government regulations and labor. The technology he would like to work with in the future is mechanical assistance machinery.
When Joe is not working, he loves to go rock hounding and copper detecting. As a family, the Raschs like to travel to different countries and camp in the Upper Peninsula.
