Web 2011
12/14/11Greetings from the EastAs the harvest season finally ends, already growers are thinking to about next year and worrying about the labor problem. Fresh off a season rocked by labor issues, planning ahead is probably a good move. It is not often that I can use the term ‘positive actions by DOL”, but I do have a couple to report on. I want to go back in time a bit, back to the early summer, when a number of NY apple growers and agricultural employers took the time to visit the halls of Congress to talk about labor, again! Since the only legal program is H2A, obviously that was the main topic. As a result of some of those meetings, today the DOL released the Employer Handbook for employers anticipating filing an H-2A application for next season. The hand book can be... |
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11/28/11A Blog about a BlogToday I am blogging about another blog called the Pear Dish which lives on the Pear Bureau’s website www.usapears.org. The Pear Dish bloggers include two Pear Bureau employees from pear headquarters as well as a registered dietitian. The topics are varied but always engaging and pear centric. For the past several weeks, one of our bloggers, Brittany, has been documenting our public relations and sampling tour called the “Time is Ripe for Pears Tour.” With stops from Miami to Boston and Chicago to Seattle, the tour combines a consumer sampling event with a PR event in each city. On the PR side, a top chef from each city on the tour prepares a wonderful meal with each dish featuring pears. Invited guests include newspaper and magazine writers and, yes, food... |
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11/04/11Nothing Stays the SameSoon it will be 10 years since the duties and responsibilities of the Washington Apple Commission were revised to concentrate on international promotions only. In the same time period, we’ve experienced wide variations in crop volumes and export quantities. Washington’s total crop volume has fluctuated 30,000,000 cartons, ranging from 79,872,000 in 2003-04 to 109,000,000+ in 2010-2011. Our exports have doubled from 17,361,972 in 2003-04 to over 36,000,000 last season. Clearly, as Washington’s apple volume expands, export markets are keeping pace in developing consumers for "The Best Apples on Earth". From year to year, variations can be dramatic as illustrated above, and why should we conclude that building international... |
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10/27/11Gotta Be Heard!How many years have we said, “Unless you fix immigration, our apples will not be picked,” and how many years have we picked the crop? How many trips to Washington, D.C., and how many testimonials have been made with the same message: without AgJOBs or a workable ag labor reform bill, our U.S. food supply will be imported?” How many harvest seasons have been completed—not without difficulties—but in the end, they were completed? Each year I when I return to a congressional office, I am always asked, “Did the labor shortage that you talked about last year happen? Did you get your apples picked?” I have always been able to say, “Yes, but…! However, this year as I sit here, I am afraid that I will have to answer,... |
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10/27/11A Busy StartAs we move into our prime promotion season, some positive things are happening in the world of pears. We recently finished up a great Produce Marketing Association convention in Atlanta, Georgia. There were over 18,000 people at this show. We have an attractive booth that drew a lot of visitors. We see many of our domestic retail contacts and get a chance to talk to them about the crop and promotions. We also see importers and retailers from our top international markets. There was a big contingent from Mexico and retail groups from Canada, as well as large numbers of visitors from some of our newest, dynamic markets like Russia and India. Importers from Brazil, the Middle East, and Central America also stopped by our booth. It is really quite an active show for... |
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10/21/11The Tree Fruit Industry Attends Produce Marketing Association Meeting in AtlantaThe team at the Washington State Fruit Commission attended the annual Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit this past week. This year, over 18,000 produce industry members from over 50 countries attended the exposition. Likewise, over 20 industry packers and shippers had booths and staff members attending the show. Overall, the tree fruit industry was well represented and came away with business, contacts and insights that should strengthen our grower position in the world marketplace. ‘ For our staff at the WSFC, the PMA convention is a great place to interface with our own industry members, domestic retailers and merchandisers, international retailers and importers, and USDA FAS staff members who are responsible for overseeing the Pacific... |
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10/12/11Labor reformDear Congressional Staff: I apologize for what might seem to be a form message to you all, but I wanted to reach out to you as soon as I could today to talk about Agricultural Labor in New York State, and the increasing labor shortages that we are experiencing. Although I am confident that this is a priority in your office, I am not confident that it has the same urgency throughout the rest of Congress. I find it most ironic that as our president is travelling around the country selling his jobs bill, here in New York State we cannot find the workers to harvest our crop. I understand that today (October 11), the Senate will take up the jobs bill. It is for that reason that I contact you. Although we are picking apples each day in New York State, we are not... |
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09/23/11Earthquakes, Hurricane, Tropical Storms and E-Verify!Holy Catastrophe, Batman! What's next? Dealing with Mother Nature in the North East, is certainly something that we just accept and live with, but earthquakes, hurricanes, and topical storms all in a few weeks—I think someone is testing us. The ground shake that Californians are so use to, did not vibrate any apples off the tree, but maybe it was a warning of what was about to happen a few days later! As you know, Irene stormed up the East coast just about the time that apple growers were placing bins in the orchards and commencing the 2011 fall harvest. For our western friends that live in the high desert, imagine 14 inches of rain in less than 24 hours! Many of our eastern orchards felt that during Irene. Fortunately most orchards are on high ground,... |
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08/23/11U.S. Apple ConferenceLast week, I attended the USApple Outlook Conference in Chicago in association with a USApple Board of Directors meeting, of which, I am now the Chairman of the State Advisory Committee. Someone within our ranks deserves a thank you from me. As you know, the primary purpose of attendance is to receive the total apple crop numbers from the United States, but also to get information regarding the EU, Mexico, Canada, the Southern Hemisphere, and China. The official publication with most of this information is the ‘Production and Utilization Analysis’. If you would like a copy, please let me know and I can copy mine and mail it to you.For those of you not in attendance, I have included several documents for your review, but here are the highlights;· The total... |
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07/16/11Early Morning Media BlitzAs National Rainier Cherry Day came and went this week, the team here at the Northwest Cherry Growers have been hosting a bevy of food writers and bloggers, who have come from around United States to cover this season’s cherry harvest. This morning I introduced a photographer from a “major” lifestyle magazine to Mr. Mark Hanrahan, a grower in the Zillah area. As the sun came up over the surrounding orchards and the morning shadows gave way to a perfectly clear image of Mt. Rainier on the horizon, our photographer commented that it was “a perfect day to be alive … a perfect day to shoot these amazing cherries." Then the photographer asked us to keep the name of the major publication he was working for “confidential,” because the article... Posted at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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06/28/11The Sweet Cherry BusinessThe 2011 Northwest Cherry season is finally under way … with first harvest starting to trickle in on June 18th … we are finally starting to see some volume build, as we expect to have close to 200,000, 20-pound-equivalent boxes packed today. At the very peak of the season, the Northwest industry will pack over 500,000 boxes per day.Coming out of the chutesDemand has exceeded supply through the industry’s first million boxes. Retail groups are setting ads for the week after the 4th, and we will see many of our promotional programs line up during the week of July 17th. We will have promotions going worldwide by then, hoping to keep demand above the increased supply of the last half of July and into mid-August.Importantly, I have a really good feeling about the... |
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06/07/11Waiting on the 2011 CropUp to this point, the theme for the 2011 Northwest Cherry season has been “hurry up and wait.” On that note, I saw some cherries showing slight red in the Columbia Basin last week. In a normal year, we would be harvesting those cherries today. For better or for worse…this has not been a “normal year” in the cherry business. It appears that the earliest pick here in the Pacific Northwest will be on or near June 13th, which will make this the latest start for cherry harvest that most growers have ever seen. When you have the coldest April on record, and the third-wettest May ever…the inevitable result is a later harvest.However, there still appears to be a moderate-size crop on the trees, and we will have all of July and August to harvest and... |
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06/01/11Corporate WelfareOn May 20th, I had the pleasure of attending an agricultural roundtable in Spokane orchestrated by Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers with Congressman Jack Kingston of Georgia in attendance. Most of us would be unaware that Congressman Kingston sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee—the committee that decides how the Federal budget is spent—and in 2011 was appointed as the Chairman of Appropriations Committee’s Agricultural Subcommittee. This makes the congressman an influential politician with opinions on the upcoming Farm Bill, and inclusive of this and more specifically, the Market Access Program (MAP), of which the Washington Apple Commission receives several million dollars each year. To her credit, Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers understands the... |
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05/06/11Eating red to a healthy heartThree new studies link eating red to a healthy heart. Tart cherries contain powerful antioxidants that reduce inflammation, a risk factor for heart disease. • Reduced Inflammation and Cardiovascular Risk: Drinking eight ounces of tart cherry juice daily for four weeks significantly reduced important markers of inflammation in a study of 10 overweight or obese adults.• Reduced Atherosclerosis and other Heart Disease Risks: A cherry diet (at 1% of diet as tart cherry powder) reduced C-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation by up to 36 percent and lowered levels of total cholesterol by 26 percent in a five-month mouse study.• Powerful Antioxidants: The heart benefits may be due to the unique combination of natural antioxidant compounds in the “Super... |
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05/02/11Olympia oversteps authority with WACAs is the situation in any business, there is always ‘more to it than meets the eye,’ and this is most certainly the case in my position as leading the Washington Apple Commission ship. Strategizing, developing, executing, and evaluating promotional programs is just one responsibility, but there are many other ‘outside’ influences to our industry. Some in D.C. have proposed cutting MAP (Market Access Program funds = 72% of our budget) or eliminating it entirely, and in Olympia efforts to control state spending include a proposal to reduce all state employee salary cost by three percent. You just never can predict where time and effort must be spent to support the WAC Export Program—in the 28 international markets, in Washington, D.C., or in Olympia.At... |
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05/02/11Referendum resultsOn April 25th, U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the results of the recent pear referendum vote among Washington and Oregon's pear growers. The results were a resounding "yes" to continuation, with 96 percent of pear growers who voted in the referendum voting in favor.The marketing order, which was first established by pear growers in 1939, authorizes the establishment of minimum quality and size requirements for fresh pears and the collection of assessments for important activities such as domestic and international promotions, research, industry reports, trade and consumer advertising, consumer outreach and education, public relations, and more.We have the oldest continuous running marketing order in the US. The fresh pear growers in the Pacific Northwest have a... |
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04/19/11A Record YearThere are numerous reasons for loving this industry: working closely with the hard-working growers who produce the highest quality apples in the world, impacting consumers around the world to choose Washington State apples over other alternatives, developing a strategic plan with your Board of Directors, and executing this plan with the support of the excellent WAC staff. The most important reason for me, however, is not listed above because it’s more abstract—every single day is unique unto itself providing not an uneventful moment! And unto this, who would have predicted the 2010-2011 Washington apple crop would be the largest ever produced—certainly not me, and I would guess not you, either.As we surpass the previous total crop record of 2008-2009,... |
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04/08/11And So It Begins …This is the time of year where we hope that spring weather in the range of 65 degrees is actually upon us … the buds bloom and the bees work. Unfortunately, the 2011 spring hasn’t completely arrived just yet … which is illustrated in the fact that snow is falling in Tieton and Cowiche as I write this post. Last night orchard fans could be heard throughout the growing districts and GS Long bud kill estimates point to the fact that we will see some bud loss in warmer districts that saw temperatures drop to just above 20 degrees. This past week I was able to look at orchards in the Dalles, Hood River, Yakima Valley and Wenatchee and Mattawa. Along the way I saw cherry and soft fruit trees in full bloom (Mattawa and Maryhill along the... |
03/16/11US Apple growers visit D.C.US Apple growers visit DC.Last week, over 80 US Apple growers stormed the congressional and senate offices of their respective states to talk “apples" and issues that confront our industry. Of course, immigration was a top priority, along with International trade, Mexican trucking issue, research, crop protection, farm bill, MAP Funding, and finally China. USApple Association, once again did an excellent job coordinating the event and bringing the issues to the Hill. Congressman Bill Owens of New York and Congressman Doc Hastings of Washington both addressed the group.New York Apple Pioneer PassesFritz Wafler, 83, passed away on March 11, 2011, after a courageous battle with cancer. Fritz was an icon in the New York apple industry, as well as a respected grower and... |
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03/07/11Cherries took the stageOn March 2 through 5, the Cherry Marketing Institute took part in the Research Chefs Association’s (RCA) Annual Conference & Culinology Expo. The RCA conference is the only research and development conference focused on the discipline of Culinology—the blending of culinary arts and food science. At the conference, CMI hosted a session entitled "Ingredient Selection: Navigating Nutrition Trends and Public Policy."During this session, a panel of experts, including award-winning former journalist and food-policy expert Sally Squires, recognized registered dietitian and author Dr. Wendy Bazilian. CMI’s own commodity-marketing expert, Jeff Manning, discussed how the perfect storm of new dietary guidelines, regulatory action, activist mandates and a highly... |
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03/03/11Amman, JordanApproximately 6 million people live in Jordan, with Amman representing over 2 million. The currency is the Jordanian Dinar at JD$0.7 to US$1. The United States has a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Jordan that allows for duty-free access to the country for Washington/USA apples. There is a 4 percent sales tax that all consumers pay, and a 2 percent income tax for businesses. The per capita income was stated several times with several different answers. The FAS FSN (foreign service national) stated US$1,200, our guide thought between US$1-3,000 and the official U.S. Government numbers are US$5,300.00. Regardless, Amman is a country with few natural resources that depend upon other countries' assistance and ex-patriot payments back to Jordan to family members. With this in mind, it... |
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03/02/11On the show floorEach February, the largest produce-oriented trade show in the world, Fruitlogistica, is held in Berlin. This year marked the 16th Fruitlogistica where USA Pears had a booth presence.The show expands each year, and with 2,452 exhibitors from 84 countries, it is easy to get lost in the pack. Although we have always exhibited in the USA Pavilion, this year, for the first time, we expanded our presence and footprint in the pavilion by sharing a booth with several USA produce groups, in including Washington Apples.This shared presence provided us with a more open and larger space fitting in with the concepts that many other country exhibitors have. In addition to showing off our pears and apples, many sales organizations used our booth as a meeting point. We also had three private meeting... |
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02/11/11Go Red InsteadLast month, the Cherry Marketing Institute announced news of an inaugural trade advertising campaign. The campaign’s goal is to drive tart cherry usage with ingredient decision makers, and convince them to include tart cherries in their new product formulas and menus.This is the first trade advertising plan since CMI began repositioning cherries as “super fruit” in 2007, building off a successful public relations and interactive campaign. The campaign, encouraging ingredient decision makers to “Go Red Instead” with its tagline, was created based on insights from the 2010 ingredient decision maker research, and inspired by the broad range of tart cherry product and menu item possibilities.Beginning in April, three different executions of one ad campaign will... |
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02/10/11Forecasts, Trends and Hot Topics for 2011, Part 2Here is part two of my look at the hot trends and topics for 2011. Check my earlier post for other forecasts.TopicsSome recent happenings in DC should continue to have some big play throughout the year.Food Safety- The President just signed a food safety bill. Implementation may be jeopardized through a funding fight as many think it is too costly. However, the CDC estimates that food-borne illnesses sicken 48 million people in the US each year and 3,000 Americans die from these food-borne illnesses. This is too big of an issue to go away.The Northwest Horticultural Council is leading our industry’s push to ensure that implementation is based on science and risk with commodity-specific protocols, i.e. more scrutiny to crops grown on the ground than those grown in a tree, as the... |
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01/31/11Forecasts, Trends, and Hot Topics for 2011As we enter the new year, it seems as though many pundits are predicting the hot trends and topics for 2011. I’ve developed my own list based on relevancy to our industry.TrendsBuying Local – This will continue to be hot and may get more buzz than organic. However, organic foods should also rebound from the slowdown during the recession.More Healthy Eating – While consumers in the past have tended to talk about it more than they actually do it, the healthy eating trend should gain momentum. It is being driven by baby boomers, 8,000 to 10,000 of whom will turn 65 every day this year, a pattern that will continue for the next 19 years!Restaurants Rebounding in 2011 – Restaurants had $1.6 billion in sales each day in 2010 and sales are expected to grow in 2011. We... |
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01/25/11Pie shooters and other great trendsThis past week, the Cherry Marketing Institute held its 22nd annual meeting in Traverse City, Michigan. We presented a report to the industry detailing the marketing results from 2010, as well as plans for 2011. It has been an amazing year as the “Red Recovery Routine” worked well for us in the marathons that were held across the country. Our expert spokespeople did a great job in both traditional media and social media. The cherry industry jumped on social media early, and it has been a great new tool that is here to stay. Who would have ever thought that Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs would be the norm today!The year 2011 has rolled out with a bang and CMI is about to launch new trade advertising. This trade advertising will target ingredient buys and encourage... |
01/25/11VietnamAs is customary for early January, an overseas visit to several Washington apple markets was warranted. I had the pleasure of traveling to Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, and Jakarta reviewing Washington Apple Commission programs and meeting with importers, wholesalers, and retailers. Today, I would like to provide you with insight into an exciting market – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.Ho Chi Minh (HCM) is the largest city in Vietnam with 10 million inhabitants of a country total population of 87 million. The currency is the Dong, which trades at $19,500 for every U.S.$1. Retail (Co-Op Mart, Big C, Metro, FiviMart & Lotte) sales of Washington apples are estimated at 20%, with the balance sold at small local fruit stands. While China enjoys duty-free access,... |
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