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01/11/11Cherry InstituteWinters seem to pass more quickly every year. As most know … winter is officially “meeting time” in the Pacific Northwest tree fruit industry. Cherry growers will have numerous opportunities to come in from the cold and focus on the challenges of producing the best sweet cherries in the world. A few of the our important dates are:• January 14th, Cherry Institute at the Yakima Convention Center, Washington• January 20th, North Central Washington Stone Fruit Day at the Wenatchee Convention Center, Washington• February 2nd, Okanogan County Hort. Assoc. Annual Mtg. at the Okanogan County Agriplex, Washington• February 8th, Mid Columbia Cherry Day in The Dalles, Oregon• February 26th – March 4th, IFTA Annual Conference, Red Lion Hotel,... |
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01/04/11New Year, New CongressThe year 2011 will be a challenge for our industry as we enter into an era of reduced spending and, obviously, program cutting. In most cases, defeated House members were ousted because, well, "change" didn't come as promised, and what change did happen, came with a huge price tag!New leadership and new members are storming the Hill, flying a conservative flag of glory. Many may agree that finally, this has to happen, but with conservative spending comes cuts to programs that our industry supports. At the Washington Horticultural Society Annual meeting in December, Dr. Des O'Rourke called for increase spending for international promotions to increase exports. He didn't just call for an increase, he called for tsunami of spending in that arena from a Washington level of 8... |
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12/14/10Thank You GrowersRecently growers received a mailing from the Washington Apple Commission outlining the need to have accurate and up-to-date addresses and acreages. We have had overwhelming response to this mailing and I want to thank all growers for their kind attention to this very important issue. Accurate grower information is critical, not only to your Washington Apple Commission, but to other industry groups that rely upon the WAC to maintain and update the grower listing. This month those of you in District #2 (I-90 south to Yakima) will receive a ballot for the WAC District #2 position #5 election. Two very capable industry leaders will be running for a three-year Commission appointment to the WAC. Grower assistance in updating our records provides opportunity to voice opinions to important... |
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12/02/10Celebrate National Pear MonthOnce again this year, at the behest of the Pear Bureau, the USDA has named December "National Pear Month". We use this designation to create buzz among food editors, so they will write about pears and include pear recipes in their publications. Outreach to editors is an important and effective component of our marketing program.As reported by our public relations department at a recent board meeting, fresh pears have received generous coverage in regional and national media early this season. The Pear Bureau’s media relations efforts have resulted in five times more consumer media articles to date this season. Stories, images, and recipes featuring fresh pears have appeared in magazines like Women’s Day, Vegetarian Times, Family Circle and Food Network Magazine,... |
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11/23/10Colombia market vulnerableHaving just returned from Colombia, Washington's largest South American apple market, I realized I was witnessing the deterioration of a very important partner of Washington's apple growers. Not only has Colombia exceeded 400,000 cartons of imports from Washington, the consumer preferences by variety and size enhance grower returns. Galas are the preferred variety, followed closely by Granny Smith and Red Delicious, and smaller sizing interest (113/125 & 150/198) provides options other than bags prior to Christmas.The true erosion of the Colombian market is due to the lack of progress by the U.S. Congress to ratify the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). For well over a yea, Congress has not acted to ratify the FTA with Colombia while Canada and the European Union... |
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11/01/10Yes We Can…In recent years, my wife Maggie and I have canned peaches, tomatoes, and asparagus. Maggie comes from a large family and we usually make our “canning day” a group family affair that includes many of her 8 brothers and sisters and extended family. We have great fun and end up with a year’s supply of whatever fruit or vegetable the team decides to preserve. This year we canned over 200 pounds of tomatoes. When WSFC Promotion Director James Michael came to me last spring and proposed a “preservation out-reach component” to our stonefruit promotional campaigns, I responded favorably because of the “fun factor” that I had experienced during my family's own canning activities. James provided some interesting consumer data that showed that there... |
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10/18/10China, continued....I would like to point out the labor-intensive methodology of harvest, to storage, to packing. The first packer asks the grower to presize and presort in the orchard, harvesting the product into the plastic bushel containers (15kg). Upon delivery and purchase, similar product is then put into wooden bins (see photo) with permeable liners and stored, treated with SmartFresh. At our second visit, the process doesn’t include presizing or presorting. Product is first sized back into plastic bushels then put into bins for storage—growers don’t presort or presize. This is a labor intensive system. The Buying Process – at the most sophisticated packer The majority of packers don’t own orchards. The packer we visited purchases the entire production... |
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10/13/10New York Congressional Delegation stands up for US ApplesAfter returning from the United Fresh Public Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., last month, I was inspired to take on yet another national issue that has serious implications for the apple industry: the Mexican cross border trucking problem, which has now drawn apples onto the tariff list! While visiting with congressional leaders on the hill, we delivered the message loud and clear that the administration needs to resolve the stand off, which is supported by the Teamsters Union. Our office sent out 28 letters reaching every congressman in the state (except the one that resigned), and both senate offices asking for them to take action, NOW! Last week, Representative Mike Arcuri (D-NY, 24th District) authored and circulated a colleague letter to our upstate delegation, asking... |
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10/11/10Governor's Mission to China, Pt. 2Monday Visit – We arrived in Yantai in the early afternoon on Monday and proceeded approximately 120km to a modern facility in Qixia. Packing The facility was modern and set up similarly to most Washington State packers. The packing line had a four-lane sizer with a water dump. The line didn’t have waxing capabilities, but did have 28 individual drops. They have 6 smaller CA rooms of approximately 1,000-1,200 bins, but none where used as CA, only common storage. They use SmartFresh on all of their apples coming out of storage, extending their marketing to May of this year. They pack between 300,000 and 400,000 cartons annually with 90% export, India being their largest/highest return market. As a point of reference, India paid US$32.00 equivalent for Premium 20kg... |
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10/04/10Useful Web SitesThe 2010 pear season is starting out well and we have a lot of activities and programs to help ensure it continues that way. Working in a constantly changing marketplace, it is important to stay on top of things in order to create strategies and plans for tomorrow and the longer term. I use the Internet a lot these days, as it is an excellent source of information—if you know where to look. However, one often has to sift through a lot of junk to get to the good stuff. I have listed several of my favorite useful Web sites here. They are worth a look, and perhaps a bookmark on your computer. I hope you find them of interest.Retail report – This report from the USDA is updated every Friday afternoon and tracks ad activity and price data from 17,000 supermarkets, about half of... |
