Page 40 - Southern Oregon Magazine Winter 2021

neck of the woods | prof ile

JIM ROOT

A Story of Pears and Klamath Basin Water Issues

steve boyarsky
david gibb

HOW DID YOUR FAMILY END UP SETTLING IN THE AND AFTER COLLEGE?
ROGUE VALLEY?
JIM – After graduating from OSU, I worked for Kern Foods out of Los
JIM - My paternal grandmother moved from Duluth, Minnesota with her Angeles for a couple years. They sent me to Guatemala to build a food pro-
family and purchased a farm on Old Stage Road. In 1905, my grandfather, who cessing plant. We built the factory and taught workers to run it. My fiancé,
was also from Minnesota, purchased the farm next door to my grandmother’s and now wife Valerie, was going to University of Oregon, so I went back and
family’s farm. They met across the fence. My grandmother went off to Oregon earned an MBA in International Business. The puzzle pieces were starting to
Agricultural College, graduated, and came back to the family farm. My grand- fit together. Sabroso had four owners at the time: John Dellenback, Dunbar
father was raising hay and cattle. He ended up buying a larger property off the Carpenter, my uncle Bob and my father. They were running the business, but
Crater Lake Highway and then bought property over in the Wood River Valley. they all had other interests and needed somebody to be a general manager.
He had grazing rights at Howard Prairie, prior to the reservoir. He would My cousin Tim came back home and we joined the company. We split our
drive cattle back and forth over the mountains from the Wood River Valley to activities between manufacturing, sales, and marketing. Then in ten years we
the Rogue Valley in the early 1900s. switched roles. Bit by bit I purchased Sabroso from the senior partners and my
cousin. By 1982, I owned the company and a whole mountain of debt.
HOW DID THEY GET INVOLVED IN GROWING PEARS?
JIM - The Rogue Valley was going through a pear farming boom. My grand- HOW DID YOU CHANGE SABROSO AFTER YOU WERE
parents purchased a pear orchard. Then the Great Depression came, and they SOLE OWNER?
lost everything. Everybody suffered. Fortunately, my grandmother Cordelia, JIM - I changed the business model to one of innovation. I brought in a team
had a small inheritance. Her family had invented the spiral spring that was of food scientists and professional management. We redefined purees. Our
used for making bed springs. With this inheritance they started buying pear food scientists would disassemble fruit into different components, and then
orchards again and ultimately added a packing house. This was the basis of the working with companies, we’d reassemble it into a form that was specific for
Myron Root Company. their use. Primarily, it was fruit flavoring that they would put in their prod-
ucts. So, we designed a specific flavor and form for Häagen-Dazs ice cream
In the early 1960s my family saw a large accumulation of low-grade, low-value and another form for Gerber baby foods.
fruit and came up with a business plan for fruit puree. Dunbar Carpenter, who
was also a pear farmer and packer, joined that venture. Dunbar’s daughter, For some products companies would buy just the essence, just the smell of
Emily, who was studying Spanish, came up with the name for the business, the fruit. It may have gone into a perfume or food products. We might sell the
Sabroso, which translates to tasty or delicious. essence of strawberries and peaches to one company and the remainder of the
puree would be freeze dried and added to breakfast cereals. It was fascinating
HOW DID YOUR INVOLVEMENT IN SABROSO EVOLVE? work. Then Tree Top made us an offer in 2008 that we couldn’t turn down and
JIM - Sabroso started with low-value local pears. Dunbar Carpenter con- we sold Sabroso.
vinced the Libby Company that this little business in Medford could produce
purees for their fruit nectars. They cobbled equipment together from an auc- WHAT IS THE BUSINESS CLIMATE LIKE IN
tion. The order from Libby was enough for the factory to run for eight weeks SOUTHERN OREGON?
with one eight-hour shift. They delivered a quality product and Sabroso was on JIM - I served eight years on Oregon’s Economic Development Commission
its way, primarily exporting to markets in Latin America. during my ownership of Sabroso. I developed an understanding of economic
development in the area. This valley has a great draw for business. We have all
I worked in the orchards during the summers and learned that it was really the basics: good transportation on the I-5 corridor, an innovative and active
hard work. The processing plant fascinated me. I worked for Jack James, a airport, great broadband, and a small but very capable technology support.
contractor and uncle of Sam James, as a laborer building the Sabroso plant. Having Rogue Community College and Southern Oregon University in our
When it was time for college, Oregon State had a food science program that I region is a bonus for hiring new employees. We generally attract high-quality
felt would fit right into the family business. people to move here for our quality-of-life. They might bring a small busi-
ness with them and pretty soon that small business is adding employees.

38 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | winter 2021