HOOD RIVER, Ore. – Ron Wherry of HR Mtn. Sun Inc. is a man with a lot of irons in the fire. The Hood River, Ore.-based human resources consulting company has been in the area less than two years and, thanks to Wherry’s vision and versatility, is already making positive contributions to the economy of the Columbia River Gorge and the Northwest.

Wherry’s plan to make the Gorge a manufacturing hub for specialty Northwest products is now bearing fruit with the opening of the Gorge Delights production and distributing plan in North Bonneville, Wash.

Founded and owned by Wherry and two Hood River Valley orchard families, the Willis Family Inc. and M. Goe and Son Inc., “Gorge Delights” started production of their first product, pre-packaged fresh fruit slices, at the new location this fall.

Orders are going out to schools, restaurants, delis, health food stores and grocery stores in the local area now, as well as other areas throughout the Northwest, according to a company press release.

These will be followed by fruit gift baskets and a new product, 100 percent natural soft pear bars. These bars are a result of six years of research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, resulting in a process that gives the additive- and preservative-free fruit bar that taste of a fresh pear, with a shelf life of two years.

Although the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service holds the patent on this innovative technology, HR Mtn. Sun Inc. holds the exclusive licensing for production in the United States.

HR Mtn. Sun Inc. is a full service, turn-key human resources company that specializes in strategic planning and human resource management. The services include planning and product development, private and public funding sources, marketing support, graphics, plant design and construction, equipment selection, sales and management and networking.

The company’s client base includes not only the fruit, farm and berry industry but also timber concerns and city and county governments throughout Oregon.

Wherry and the Intertribal Agriculture Council, an agency that promotes conservation, development and use of Native American agricultural resources, have recently signed a partnership agreement “to work cooperatively to create and further develop domestic markets for products manufactured, produced and crafted by Native American peoples.”

In the two years since its inception HR Mtn. Sun Inc. has grown to 15 employees, with the main office in Hood River and a second office in Portland that serves Gorge Delights as well.

The staff includes an in-house research and laboratory team, a financial planning CPA, a staff writer and grant specialist, graphics specialists and other specialists in human resources and planning.

“We provide ‘wrap-around’ services,” Wherry says, “beginning with the germination of an idea and continuing through to the final production and sale of the product. We concentrate on producing value-added products.”

“Gorge Delights is a good example,” he said. “We got together and talked about the possibility of a pear bar to increase pear sales, and off we went!”

The pear bar product line will include a basic pear bar, which includes bits of dried bits of dried, diced pears, and a pear-blueberry bar and a pear-cranberry bar.

“These cinnamon-colored taste treats are soft and chewy, with an intense pear flavor,” says ARS food technologist Tara H. McHugh, “and they pack the nutritional power of two fresh pears.”

“Plans are under way for the production of other fruit and vegetable bars using this same process,” said Leslie Brown, human resource director for HR Mtn. Sun Inc.

“Besides the large variety of fruit we have here in the Northwest, we have inquiries from growers in Hawaii to produce a tropical fruit bar,” Brown said. “We will be able to make use of the time that the plant is not producing the pear and other local bars by bringing in these tropical growers.”

Gorge Delights currently has 15 employees, but that will increase to about 40 once the pear bars and fruit baskets go in to full production. Wherry expects to ultimately employ up to 120 people at the North Bonneville plant.

“With the overseas market infusion into the United States, it’s paramount that we develop new ways of diversifying and using our own resources,” said Wherry. “When fresh pears aren’t selling well, for instance, we need to find value-added alternatives for using them.”

HR Mtn. Sun Inc is also involved in the new process of vacuum microwave dehydration, which produces a dried product with a superior flavor, texture, color and shape than the traditional air or freeze drying.

The process allows lower drying temperatures which eliminate heat damage, and ultra fast dehydration is attained by superior energy transfer. The reduced oxygen exposure limits enzymatic and chemical degradation of the finished product.

“German venture capitalists are anxious to invest in this new process,” said Wherry, “and a lot of interest has been shown in the food drying industry, as well as herbal, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical concerns.”

HR Mtn. Sun Inc. is currently working with many groups to advance this new-process, because the final product has proved to be so much better.

Wherry and his wife, Anna, and their two sons live in Hood River, but Wherry spends a great deal of time across the United States, researching new avenues of marketing, making presentations and currently negotiating with the National Tribal Council to carry out a plan similar to the Gorge Delights project for individual tribes.