Our great-great-great-grandfather moved from Ireland to Ontario, Canada, because of the Irish Potato Famine. His son, Richard Riley, was born in 1849 and later moved to Michigan and purchased the land he would begin to farm. 

In 1895, Clayton Riley was born to Richard, in the house that  sits on our home farm. Clayton's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were raised in this farmhouse. 

Clayton's son, John, decided to expand our crop variety and began growing asparagus, in addition to fruit. His son, Mark, eventually partnered with him and continued to expand the farm. 

In 2006, two of Mark's sons, Steve and Andy, signed on as partners and they operate the farm today. In 2013, we began to rapidly expand our acreage, doubling our cherry production in 2016 and our asparagus production in 2019.

In 2021, we realized there was a need for a storage facility to recieve asaparagus, store apples, and barrel cherries for other processors in the area. We have now constructed a facility with a 90,000 bushel capacity CA storage, a hydrocooler and the much-needed space to receive fresh produce. 

Riley Orchards Inc. is a fifth generation, family owned and operated farm, in Mears, Michigan. We farm over 1200 acres, growing asparagus, tart cherries, sweet cherries, and apples.