Every company has “behind-the-scenes” employees who ensure everything runs smoothly and on time. Facility Manager Darin Yoerger is one of those people at Superfresh Growers. Our “fixer!”
Darin has been with Superfresh Growers for about eleven years. His peers describe him as a rugged, old-school gearhead who gives excellent advice and always lends a helping hand.
Darin was born and raised in Union Gap, WA. He graduated from Eisenhower High School. Here, they offered welding, mechanics, and Future Farmers of America (FFA) classes. After exploring a few of these options, he knew his life would involve some sort of trade job. However, he expressed that his first attempt at fixing things was not very... successful... In high school, he was assigned to tear down a lawnmower and put it back together as it originally stood. And, believe it or not, he didn’t do that. He was able to reassemble the mower, but he just couldn’t get it to run. That entire summer, he spent cutting his mother’s lawn with an old reel mower until he could afford a new one to replace the one he had broken.
From that point forward, he became very determined to understand what he was working on and learned that asking for assistance was as crucial to completing the job as applying the knowledge he had previously learned.
Darin learned many valuable lessons from life events and his grandfather throughout his youth. Darin’s grandfather played a significant part in his life when he was growing up, and to this day, he remembers the wisdom passed down to him by this man. “If you’re happy with what you’ve become, you’ll forever be grateful.”- His grandfather advised him.
As a hands-on type of man, Darin has a passion for mechanically intricate machinery. In 2009, he had 15 minutes of fame when his 1999 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy motorcycle was featured on the cover of “Hot Bike Magazine.” It's cool to have a celebrity in-house if we do say so ourselves.
Darin planting our Pollinator Garden with fellow coworkers.
Darin’s career in the fruit industry started in 1989. He worked as a segregator and worked his way up into a Facility Manager and Refrigerator Technician. He then joined the Superfresh family in 2011.
At that time, he had started as a temporary truck driver for our harvest season. But soon after the season ended, he received a call with the opportunity to join full-time as a forklift mechanic. Everything after that is history, as he proved himself up for any challenge. And when asked to describe his job at Superfresh Growers, he laughs and says, “That’s a great question,” never actually answering whoever is asking.
In the fall of 2022, Darin led the creation of Superfresh Growers’ pollinator garden. He wrote up a plan mapping out the logistics behind the build and executed the project beautifully with the help of his colleagues! Our garden and pollinators have been thriving since.
This is a true testimony as to how important Darin is to us. He lends a helping hand to all, from the smallest task to the biggest repairs. He ensures that we are warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and never pestered by creepy crawling insects! We can all count on Darin, his good heart, and his dedication!
