Miles Reiter

Driscoll Strawberry Association Inc.
Watsonville, California

Philosophy to live by

“Mostly through example, my father taught me many important lessons. An ideal he held fiercely to was that he would never do a deal that just worked for him. It wasn’t a good deal if there wasn’t value for everyone involved. That advice has helped me greatly through the years.”

“For it to be a good deal, it has to work for both sides.”

Roots

Miles Reiter is fourth generation in his family business – third in berries. “My grandfather starting farming in the Pajaro Valley in 1896. My father partnered with Ed Driscoll in 1944 to form Driscoll’s. I always worked summers on the farm – didn’t have much choice, but it was good fun and serious work. In high school, I was already surveying and prepping the land. Once I was out of college, I contemplated doing other things, but my dad said, ‘You better make up your mind, because I don’t want to wait around.’”

A Life in Berries

“I’ve had the same career since five days out of college. Once I started, the work was really engaging and very different than just summer work in that I was able to work through the entire cycle. I worked with small growers and learned so much. It was really fun. The people were great – and they still are.”

The Complex Berry

“Berries are pretty complex. At Driscoll’s we have several proprietary varieties of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, created by our Research and Development Department and then grown exclusively by our own independent farmers. Our mission is to continually delight our customers and we’re serious about that. So we breed for flavor, aroma and resistance to disease.”

Family

Miles and his wife of 28 years, Rosanne, have four children: Brie, Allison, Miles and Sydney. When not basking in berry growing the family enjoys fly fishing and horseback riding.