Tree Top Apple Juice

Tree Top, Inc. was the first grower-owned fruit processing cooperative in the United States. 1,300 apple and pear growers in Washington, Idaho, and Oregon own the cooperative, with the majority of the growers from Washington.

Tree Top was founded by Bill Charbonneau, who purchased an apple processing plant in Selah, Washington after moving from southern California with his family. In the 1950s Charbonneau developed a brand of apple juice. A contest held among his employees led to choosing the name "Tree Top” due to the perception that the highest quality fruit grows at the tops of trees. A handful of orchardists purchased Tree Top from Bill Charbonneau in 1960 and with the purchase, the growers bought the right to the first clear apple juice process developed and its facilities. In 2008, the cooperative had nearly 1,200 grower/owners in Washington, Oregon and Idaho and along with its subsidiary, Sabroso Company, produce the widest array of fruit-based products and ingredients available, including Tree Top apple juice, apple sauce, and fresh sliced apples.

In 1986, Tree Top stopped accepting apples treated with the growth regulator Alar (daminozide), which had been the subject of a special review of the Environmental Protection Agency since 1984. After daminozide became illegal in 1989 for use on food crops in the United States, Tree Top president Dennis Colleran resigned. In June 1989, Tree Top announced it would break contracts with any growers who used Alar on that season's crop. Later that year, Tree Top charged growers who sent Alar-treated apples to its facilities.