It’s been a challenging year for Pennsylvania apple growers, many of whom suffered catastrophic fruit losses. One name kept resurfacing as a cornerstone of the state’s recovery efforts: Ben Rice, president of Rice Fruit Co.
Rice, an eighth-generation grower, was named The Packer’s 2026 Apple Person of the Year. He is the third leader from Rice Fruit Co. to earn the honor, following his uncle John Rice and Lee Showalter.
Eighth Generation Leader Steps Up
Nominators commend Rice not only for advocating for growers during a devastating crop year, but also for his past leadership during the global pandemic and his commitment to a workplace culture that supports and encourages individual growth.
“Like many before him, Ben leads with an innate sense of service to the growers and the industry that has been part of our local way of life for generations,” says Brenda Briggs, vice president of sales and marketing for Rice Fruit Company.
Mobilizing Disaster Relief After Catastrophic Frost
Yet it was his selfless leadership during an unprecedented freeze and working tirelessly to secure economic relief for crop losses that truly set him apart. Nominators say Rice quickly assessed the damage to identify where support was needed most.
“Many fruit growers have not seen this level of loss in their lifetimes and the effects on the fruit industry, as well as the partner businesses (packaging, trucking companies etc.) are almost unfathomable,” Valerie Ramsburg, Content Marketing Manager for Rice Fruit Company, says. “Ben immediately sprang into action — advocating fiercely for his grower network by educating himself on the level of damage and staying in constant communication with local, state and federal officials.”
While nominators acknowledge that recovery required a statewide team effort, Ramsburg notes that “Ben’s unwavering advocacy for his fellow fruit growers has been nothing short of exceptional.”
“Ben has provided steady leadership, thoughtful advocacy, and grace throughout the process, helping unite stakeholders around a common goal during one of the industry’s most challenging seasons,” Briggs says. “Ben’s enduring optimism, humility, and compassion shine like a lighthouse in the midst of a hurricane.”
As post-frost damage reports filtered in, Hinkle, chief financial officer of Rice Fruit Co., observed Rice absorbing the data and immediately looking for solutions. He notes that as a fifth-generation leader, Rice “carries that legacy with humility rather than entitlement.”
Recognizing that crop losses would create a year-long financial gap before the next harvest, Rice immediately walked orchards alongside growers to assess the full extent of the damage and communicate it to policymakers.
Hinkle notes that Rice advocated for every grower regardless of size: “He was careful throughout to speak for the whole industry, for the independent grower with a few acres as readily as for the largest operations.”
“Ben’s greatest contribution has been his focus on identifying practical, targeted solutions that would provide meaningful support and strengthen the infrastructure and funding needed to help agricultural businesses bridge the gap until the 2027 crop,” Briggs says.
Rice helped secure state and federal disaster declarations from Pennsylvania Ag Secretary Russell Redding, Gov. Josh Shapiro, and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins.
“The speed at which help became available was impressive,” Briggs says. “There was a Proclamation of Disaster that provided state and federal disaster funding to growers and RMA accepted the industry’s request to move swiftly in processing insurance claims at harvest to help growers with dire cash flow needs to maintain their orchards and trees until the next crop.
Rice points to the deeply intertwined networks and partnerships that exist across the country to provide support during crisis. When a region experiences a severe weather event, the national supply responds and it’s through this regional diversity that strengthens the industry overall. He says this partnership is what makes the industry generational and not yearly.
“The U.S. apple industry is fundamentally a regionally diverse industry and that is one of its biggest strengths,” Rice says. “That industry exists in partnership across a lot of stakeholders like consumers, growers, and the buyers. But also our state and federal governments. That is a network and it is an ecosystem in which we operate and thrive. So when unforeseeable, uncontrollable events happen that can strongly challenge any region’s vitality, there is this system that is strengthening the whole. There’s the system and the whole is stronger because of it.”
While public proclamations and government aid were the most visible outcomes of Rice’s advocacy, those closest to him point to moments out of the public eye as the true test of his leadership.
“I see the decisions Ben makes when there is no audience, when the numbers are unfavorable, and when the easier choice would be to protect our own company at the expense of the growers and the industry around it,” Hinkle says. “Time and again, he chooses the harder path.”
Investing in Long-Term Strength Beyond The Crisis
Nominators say Rice’s service of the apple industry goes beyond a global pandemic or a catastrophic weather event. He serves on the board of directors of Knouse Foods Cooperative, Inc., a processing company the entire region relies on and represents the interests of grower-owners.
“He approaches that responsibility the way he approaches his own company — with a long horizon, and with a clear understanding that the health of the industry and the health of any single business within it are not separable,” Hinkle says.
Hinkle points to Rice’s efforts to expand controlled-atmosphere apple storage capacity in Pennsylvania, which he says are critical to determining whether an apple reaches the market in February or May or is sold into a crowded fall market.
“Ben committed to this investment during a year of sharply reduced volume and revenue — a year when nearly any CFO’s instinct, including mine, is to conserve,” Hinkle says. “He weighed that and moved forward anyway, looking toward the future because growers without storage lose both leverage and margin, and because the industry needs the capacity whether or not this was a convenient year to build it.”
For Rice, making long-term investments during a lean year comes down to his foundational philosophy on fruit growing.
“We talk about markets from year to year, but our vocation, our passion lies in these generational goals,” Rice says. “That’s what motivates us.”
In a season that forced regional operations to pull together, Rice sees the industry’s response as proof of this underlying strength.
“I wish that opportunities to make great impacts were readily found in good times as well,” Rice says. “But hard times can show grit, and can also show cooperation, collaboration, and mutual success. The Mid-Atlantic apple industry has been around for a very long time, and will be around for a lot longer thanks to us working together.”
By making long-term investments while absorbing the initial shock of the freeze, Hinkle says Rice gave neighboring operations the structural support needed to weather the crisis.
“Pennsylvania’s apple industry is in the middle of a very difficult year. It will battle through this year in better shape than it might have, in no small part because Ben Rice spent the last several months working to make it better,” Hinkle says.
Ramsburg compares the state’s fruit industry to an ancient archway: if pieces are removed, it destabilizes, but together, it can withstand severe storms. “Ben has been at the foundation of that metaphorical arch,” she says, “and his efforts deserve recognition and the utmost gratitude.”
