In celebration of Farmworker Awareness Week, Stemilt Growers has shared updates about a new Equitable Food Initiative case study as well as the completion of 48 worker-driven production improvement projects in the past year.
“When I think about what EFI is, it’s people,” says West Mathison, president of Stemilt. “By definition, EFI is a third-party audit designed by workers, growers, retailers and consumers to help suppliers like Stemilt bring more transparency and assurance around farm working conditions. But by the way it shows up in everyday life at work, it’s become part of our team’s identity, shaping how they show up, collaborate and look out for one another.”
To honor the progress made toward farmworker health and well-being, Stemilt says it examined the impact of its continuous improvement efforts with EFI over the past five years. According to the case study, employee engagement has improved by 10% since 2022, with 96% of H-2A and 80% of local workers returning for seasonal work each year. In 2025 alone, Stemilt says EFI leadership teams across the apple and pear packing lines and the North Distribution Center completed 48 improvement projects at its packing facilities, each driven by worker insight and collaboration.
“One of the most powerful things our leadership teams have shared is that employees feel comfortable coming to them with questions or concerns,” Mathison says. “Many of our improvement projects have grown directly from those conversations, from adding stairs to parts of the packing line to improve safe access, to reorganizing the box mezzanine for better efficiency, to installing box elevators that reduce repetitive bending. Individually, these changes may seem small, but over time they create meaningful improvements in both physical and mental safety. Between 2023 and 2024, we reduced workplace injuries by 15%, and in some months, we’ve had no reported injuries at all.”
Stemilt says additional improvements included painted crosswalks and directional arrows in parking areas to enhance pedestrian safety, chains added to the line dumper to improve operations, electric scales installed in bagging areas to reduce unnecessary movement, new cafeteria access points to reduce slips and falls, and modifications to the pear line stamper to streamline workflow and reduce downtime.
Each of these changes has contributed to more than $68,000 in ROI, Stemilt says, while also making its production facilities safer and more efficient for workers.
“As we celebrate five years of EFI certification, we’re proud to recognize the World Famous farmworkers whose leadership and expertise have driven continuous improvement across Stemilt,” Mathison says. “Their hands, knowledge and commitment to excellence are what make our apples, pears and cherries World Famous. Farmworker Awareness Week gives us a special moment to highlight their impact, but our appreciation extends far beyond a single week.”
