About Us.

Written by Rob Mercer

The Mercer family history in the Prosser region begins in the late 1880’s when Willis A Mercer moved west from Illinois to settle in the lower Yakima Valley.  He started into the livestock business straight away and was active in the Prosser community where he constructed the “Mercer Block” in 1906, a brick building of the time that still serves several tenants in Prosser and is owned by Willis’s great-granddaughter, Julie Mercer.  One of the quotes that I remember from my youth is “no one ever said a bad word about Willis”.  He was known as a man of his word and well respected in his community.

Willis’s “Mercer & Hill Sheep Company” survived the great depression and enabled Willis to assist his sons, Bill and Milt Mercer in starting their own Mercer Brothers Sheep Company in the late 1930’s which prospered for them during WW ll.   Milt and Bill purchased semi arid range lands on Horse Heaven Hills in the 1930’s and 40’s to serve as winter quarters for the 6000 ewes they managed.  Milt bought out his brother Bill around the end of World War ll establishing Mercer Sheep Company and continuing the operation he and Bill had begun.  The 40’s and early 50’s were exciting and interesting years for the youngsters in the family as we spent the summers on the range in Montana and the winters in Prosser School or the “sheep camp” on Horse Heaven.  Our family life was planned around what was needed with the business and a demanding and interesting business it was.

The Blackfoot Indian Tribe developed new rules for competitive bidding on our range leases in Montana which were up for renewal at the end of 1953, and Milt could see the possibility of a wool market collapse due to the rise of synthetics during the Korean War, these two things caused him concern for the future of the Sheep industry.  He elected to sell the sheep and related equipment at the end of 1953 while they still had value, which turned out to be a very good move.  The next few years we moved heavily into the cattle business developing a feedlot in Prosser and fencing our range on Horse Heaven.  During that period Milt had time to become involved in civic duties, ran unsuccessfully for State Representative, but was elected as Benton County PUD Commissioner, that choice eventually leading our family down a completely different path.  I remember Dad (Milt) being very involved with issues in Prosser and Benton PUD during that era, much like Willis must have been 40 years earlier.

 The Cattle business grew and Mercer Ranches Inc was established by Milt in 1959.   It consisted of around 35,000 acres of semi-arid range land including some dry-land wheat farmland, which was *leased to a neighbor, and a cattle feedlot in Prosser.  The Benton County PUD Commissioners became interested in the possibilities of private irrigation from the Columbia River utilizing some of the Hydro-power generated dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers.   Dad enthusiastically investigated this and in the mid 1960’s he saw an opportunity to add value to the arid holdings adjacent to the Columbia River when the construction of the John Day Dam raised the water level bringing it a couple miles closer to Mercer land and providing new opportunity for his boys (Don, Milt Jr[Bud], and Rick) to be involved in the Ranch.   Carma and Milt, the three sons and their families all lived on the ranch from this time thru the next 20 years.

*The dry-land wheat lease mentioned above was entered into during WW ll by Milt Mercer and Roy Sharp on a handshake and was discontinued 60 years later because the Lessee (LeRoy Sharp) no longer wanted to operate it. There was never a written lease or a difficulty that wasn’t resolved civilly.

Milt involved all three boys in the new adventure, *we mortgaged the “ranch”, and set about learning to become Irrigators, the first water delivered to the “project” in 1968.  We began growing mostly livestock oriented crops and sugar beets, the cash crops displacing the livestock support crops over the next decade.  We continually looked for profitable cropping ideas leading us to plant a small block of Cabernet Sauvignon Grapes in 1972 and more wine-grapes and apples a few years later.  Learning the irrigation business had it’s trying times as we weeded out unprofitable crops and ideas.  In the early 1980’s Milt sold his interest in the business and brothers Don, Rick, and Milt Jr[Bud] separated into three spin off corporations. 

Bud’s business, Mercer Ranches Inc, focused for several years primarily on row crops and vegetable processing.  Bud’s sons, Rob and Will joined the operations in the Mid 1990’s and the irrigated farm continued to grow with the Carrot Processing Plant becoming the major business, especially after the California operation was added in 1999 and 2000.  During this period Bud and Rob partnered with Jarrod Boyle and began the Destiny Ridge Vineyard that has now progressed to Alexandria Nicole Cellars, a well thought of vineyard and winery operation located on property formerly belonging to the Mercer Ranch. 

When the decision was made to sell the Carrot processing plants at the end of 2004 the trademark name, Mercer Ranch, was sold along with the plants and the company was renamed to Mercer Canyons Inc.  We continue to grow the vegetable and farm crops produced previously and now have a growing vineyard and winery operation component of the business which continues to add new excitement and challenges.  Additionally, since 2004 the company has increased its focus on wildlife enhancement and sustainable farming now providing some 1,500 acres of managed wildlife areas and several organic crops.

* When Milt chose to mortgage the “ranch” in 1968 it was a monumental decision for him.  He did not believe in debt, especially illiquid debt, and was never comfortable with the amount of money it took to operate what became a large irrigated farm.  I believe he was much relieved when he was able to sell his interest to the sons and be removed from the debt burden.  It is a testament to his courage and building nature that he entrusted his life work to his sons.  

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