By Christina Guerrero
FOR THE MUNN family, farming was a tradition with deep roots. Brothers Robert and
Duane Munn learned how to farm from their
father, Lorin Munn, but when Robert shared
his dream of leaving his well-established farm
near Nyssa, Oregon, and moving his family to
Prosser, Washington, to farm on a larger
scale, his father was dead set against it.
Nevertheless, he accompanied his son to
inspect the dry-land wheat farms Robert had
his eye on.
“All the way up there, for 225 miles, I was
preached to about how there was more
important things than breaking a family up,”
Robert Munn says. “I’ll never forget that.”
But when Lorin, now deceased, saw the
land he realized there were a lot more possi-
bilities in the region for growing crops than
there were in Oregon, and he too began mak-
ing plans for development. In 1976, the three
Munn families moved to the more-than-
9,000-acre farm located in an area known as
the Horse Heaven Hills. Quickly realizing
they would need help to develop such a large
farmland, they recruited Brent Schulthies
(Robert’s brother-in-law), Brent Hartley and
Clyde Bybee, who also had established farms
in Oregon.
“People that worked for us down there—
a lot of them came up here and worked for
us,” Robert Munn recalls. ”There were about
90 people who came, altogether. It looked like
an exodus.”
Today the area has grown to include
24,000 acres of farmland among the three
farms—Sunset, Hartley and Bybee—which all
have their own packing and storage facilities.
The five partners, Robert and Duane Munn
of Sunset Produce, Brent Hartley and Brent
Schulthies of Hartley Produce and Clyde
Bybee of Bybee Produce, come together
under the Sunheaven name to share a high-
tech water irrigation system. Each farm is
independently owned, but together they pro-
duce about 40 percent of the onions grown in
Washington state, many of which supply
Costco warehouses across the country.
No shortage of challenges
Their success involved a lot of hard work
and challenges, in an undeveloped area that
lacked a mail route, water, telephone lines and
even a road.
During their first winter on the land,
before the roads could be established, the
wind would blow and wipe out the one power
line, leaving them with no electricity for days,
and scatter soil from the fields across the
gravel roads and drop it at their front doors.
Another challenge was acquiring more
Produce-farming families
create unique business model
Growing together
supplier profile
Companies:;
• Bybee Produce
• Hartley Produce
• Sunset Produce
Websites:;
• bybeeproduce.com
• utahonions.com
• sunsetonions.com
Products at Costco:; 10 pounds jumbo
yellow onions (Bybee); 8 pounds jumbo
red, 10 pounds jumbo yellow, 5 pounds
jumbo sweet onions (Hartley); 10 pounds
jumbo yellow onions, 5 pounds jumbo
sweet onions (Sunset)
Comments about Costco:;“Costco
has been an important partner for us.
Over the years we have sold them
onions, frozen corn, peas and beans. We
have developed a great relationship with
Costco and look forward to working with
them for many years in the future.”
“Very honest company that is very fair to
work with from the supplier side.;They
are very conscious of the American
farmer, which is a relief in today’s world.;
We place great value on the relationship
with Costco.”—Brent Hartley
“Costco gives its customers an excellent
buying format with the combination of
good quality products and produce at
affordable prices.”—Robert Munn
SUPPLIERPROFILE
DEAN DAVIS