Amy Baker of Peterson Farms

As senior director of quality and regulatory compliance management for food processor Peterson Farms, Amy Baker is contributing to Michigan’s agribusiness industry with the largest employer in Oceana County – and knows how to spot a good apple.

Amy Baker was born and raised in Mount Pleasant. As one of three children, she played three sports a year and spent weekends camping, cross-country skiing, fishing and exploring the banks of the Pere Marquette River and Manistee National Forest. Amy and her husband lived in Cleveland, Boston and most recently Cincinnati, but decided to return to Michigan and live in Pentwater, where both her parents were raised. She said, “It was always a dream to come back. We spent a lot of our summers here visiting our grandparents and great-grandparents. I am a fourth-generation permanent resident of Pentwater now!” 

While she “threw caution to the wind” and committed to the move before finding employment, Amy discovered a great fit in her role as senior director of quality and regulatory compliance management for Peterson Farms.

Peterson Farms markets over 150 million finished pounds of frozen fruits and seven million gallons of single strength apple juice/cider and juice concentrates, and is one of the leading processors of fresh-cut apples in the United States. In February 2025, the company received Michigan Economic Development Corporation support to expand its operations and create up to 96 new jobs. As the largest employer in Oceana County with 640 Michigan residents employed at its Shelby Township facilities, Peterson Farms is an advocate of wraparound services for its employees, providing housing for 225 associates and their families. 

It’s this commitment to providing quality fruit products and uplifting the Oceana County community that makes Amy proud of the work she does each and every day. 

“If you look at my title, it talks about quality and regulatory compliance. Those are two components that I manage every day. People don't want to buy bruised or sour apples; they want to buy apples, cherries, and blueberries that taste good and are safe to eat. I most recently came from the optical industry: frames, lenses and prescriptions. Then you get into food and start looking at everything in the grocery store, and think, ‘Wow, I wonder how they make this? Are they being safe and doing what we do every day?’ 

I think of Lucy and Ethel from “I Love Lucy,” when they were quality people on the line, and they started eating the chocolate to keep up with the line. When I took this role, I thought, 'I don't know anything about quality. Why would I do this?’  I don't want to stand on the line and look at units go by.  

But it's not that at all. It's working with our growers. The science behind the fruit is amazing. In spring, when it starts to warm up, the blossoms will come out and start to open. That first 10 days in May are so critical, because if we get a frost, then we've lost our crop. Growers depend on that. Just a few days can ruin their whole crop, which is their whole livelihood.  

When you hear people talk about from farm to fork, that's exactly what we do. We work with individual, multi-generational family farmers. A lot of our juices and frozen fruit go as a component, for yogurt, another juice beverage or pies. Whether we're getting it at a McDonald's, or selling it to a customer that makes pies, it's eventually getting to the end consumer. 

We're subject to Mother Nature; I joke with auditors and customers that the only variable we have in our environment is the fruit. We can't control what Mother Nature gives us, but we have to process it safely and package it. We grade the fruit so we know if something will be great for the fresh side of the market, so the children get fresh apple slices in their school lunches.  

For fresh fruit that doesn’t make the cut, we have an outlet: we make juice. People don't care what it looks like, right?  

When I started in food safety, it was hugely eye-opening, not only personally, but professionally. The good thing about food safety is the regulations. There are federal and state regulations behind the things that you are supposed to be doing in a food processing environment. You have to consider the equipment and people in your environment and then break down the regulations into standard work, to make sure people understand how to do their jobs safely. We spend a lot of time helping people understand both why and what they're doing. When they know the why and you give them the how, that helps create the culture.  

All our fruit and vegetables are grown outside. Pathogens and bacteria are naturally occurring in the environment. We work hard every day to manage that hazard. We put strategies in place to wash the fruit when it comes in, to make sure that equipment is clean when we're cutting and washing and bagging it, that employees are following good manufacturing practices, washing their hands, putting hair nets on, putting gloves on, putting smocks on, and if they leave the floor, they follow that same process when they come back on. 

I might oversee the quality and food safety, but people across all of our facilities are doing that every day. Culture starts at the executive level. If quality and employee safety and food safety aren't number one, then you're going to get a hodgepodge outcome. But our executive leadership team has a high standard and a high benchmark.  

Without that support, I couldn't make some of the requirements of my team and in the plant that I need to have in place. For example, I need sanitation to use these specific chemicals at these concentrations, and clean really well every night. If I didn’t have that support, then I wouldn’t be successful in achieving a quality product with great food safety. It starts there. 

I didn’t start out with this career in mind. I graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Arts. I aspired to fill my toolbox with an array of experience, so I’ve worked in various roles in sales, marketing, finance and operations across industries such as paint, adhesives, office stationery and optical. We had lived and worked outside of Michigan for my whole adult life, but it was time to go back home.  

Coming back to Michigan was a breath of fresh air. I love being home to spend more time with my family and extended family. My husband and I enjoy hiking, skiing, water sports, hunting, fishing and watching the seasons change. It’s really hard to want to leave Oceana County because we have all of that here, but the whole state of Michigan is beautiful. We enjoy everything from a Tigers game to a musical or concert in Grand Rapids to a beach day at Mears State Park.  

I believe skill sets are transferable to any job or industry. I had not previously worked in food safety or regulatory compliance areas, but I believed I had the right skill set to learn something new and contribute. I haven’t looked back since!  

We are the largest employer in Oceana County, and so we work very hard to attract and retain our employees. We couldn't do what we do without the employees we have. 

One of many reasons I'm proud to work here: it’s not about a product and making money. It's about being part of the community and valuing that and actually walking the talk. I participate on two boards in Oceana County, for Trinity Hospital in Shelby and the Pentwater School Board. We try to be helpful for other people and not just for ourselves, and that feels good as an individual and as an employee.  

If we could get other companies to come along with us and get involved, it's amazing the difference we could make.” 

Learn how the MEDC helps support the fruits of companies’ labor.