01/26/12What’s in store?With a record crop and a late start, fresh pears need a lot of extra push at retail this year, and the Pear Bureau team is meeting that challenge as we start the New Year. Pears are facing a lot of competition from imported fruit in retail stores right now. Retail ads with imported blueberries and “summer fruits” are common this time of year. Last week, January 20th, however, pears were the third-leading fruit item advertised in the United States according to the USDA retail report which covers 17,000 supermarkets. Apples and oranges were numbers one and two respectively in their report. To increase the momentum of pear sales and ensure that we are front and center in ads and in stores, we have doubled down on promotions. Our Regional Managers have secured... |
|
 |
01/09/12Sometimes PoliticsIn all businesses, there are days where politics come into play and understanding the political playing field is as important as knowing when to pick fruit at its peak, to sell fruit at the optimum price, and to know where and when to promote said fruit. Yesterday, was one of those days when politics became the focus of my afternoon. I had been asked to attend an impromptu meeting with U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA). Along with fellow industry members, Jason Matson (Matson Fruit), Adam Rowe (Rowe Farms), Christian Schlect (Northwest Horicultural Association), Jon DeVaney (Yakima Growers-Shippers Association), and Mike Gempler (Washington Growers League), I met with Senator Cantwell for over an hour in, of all places, a beer garden at the Yakima Ag Expo being... |
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... |
|
 |
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... |
 |
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... |
 |
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,... |
 |
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... |
 |
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... |
 |
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... |
 |
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,... |
