Salute to Idaho Agriculture: Northview Orchards

BUHL, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — A day at the U-Pick Farm is fun for the whole family.

For this week’s Salute to Idaho Agriculture, we head to Northview Orchards, which has been a Southern Idaho fixture for half a century.

Northview Orchard has been a fixture along the Snake River Canyon rim for over half a century.

“My grandparents put this in, in the 1950s,” said Kent Reinke, Owner of Northview Orchards.

The orchard spreads across the rim of the canyon on the north end of Buhl, with thousands of trees growing a wide variety of fruits.

“Have about 2,000 trees. I’ve got 25 kinds of apples, 20 kinds of peaches, cherries, apricots, nectarines, plums, pears, kind of a mix of everything,” said Reinke.

In a word, the orchard is massive, the staff, not so much.

“Just me. My folks come and help when they can,” said Reinke.

The lack of overhead has its benefits.

For one, the virtually nonexistent labor costs mean Reinke can charge a miniscule sixty cents a pound for u-pick fruits. But managing the who orchard of trees, weeds and fruits becomes a multi-year task.

“Do as much as I can and then, what I don’t get done I start the next year,” said Reinke.

Additionally, the work is inconsistent.

This year’s cold, late spring meant Reinke’s work schedule has been late and unpredictable.

“This year it’s hard to tell when stuff going to be ripe, everything’s running 10 days to two weeks late. Weeds are terrible this year cause of that cold, wet spring, stuff coming up that I haven’t seen since I bought the place,” said Reinke.

Regardless, the orchard carries on... and you can get your fruit Monday through Saturday from 9-6.

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