Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/366055
GOOD J OB Year-end shipping reports to be required T he Washington State Depart- ment of Agriculture plans to require Washington apple shippers to submit season-end reports on the volume of fruit they shipped. Shippers are required to submit to the Department of Agriculture a certificate of compliance for each load as it is shipped. This is entered into the department's computer database. The Washington Apple Com- mission collects an assessment of 3.5 cents per box, based on those numbers. Cameron Crump, the depart- ment's fruit and vegetable admin- istrator, said it works on an honor system and there is no mechanism for confirming that the volume being reported is correct. The need for verification became evident last year when Borton & Sons, Inc., of Yakima, Washington, was found to have underreported the volumes of apples it shipped. Crump said the new rule will require shippers to submit end- of-year reports summarizing their shipments for the year, which will be compared with the certificate of compliance data to see if there's a discrepancy. However, this also will be done on an honor system. "If there's somebody on the ship- ping dock that hasn't been trained properly and hasn't entered cer- tificates of compliance for specific shipments, that kind of thing will be caught earlier," she said. "But if people want to cheat, I don't think there's a way to stop them without some kind of a random audit every year, and no one really wants to see that happen." Hearings to receive industry input will be held before the rule goes into effect, probably for the 2015 crop year. www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER SEPTEMBER 2014 7 The Kershaw family, owners of Domex Superfresh Growers ® , are farmers who for five generations have built a business based on shared values, trustworthiness and fiscal responsibility. Our marketing experience and consumer connections fuel the success of the "Superfresh" growers we serve. Call us today to learn more about growing with Superfresh Growers ® . We know what's trending NOW. 151 Low Rd., Yakima, WA. 98908 | superfreshgrowers.com Our difference makes all the difference™ Cleveringa joins Research Commission J eff Cleveringa, head of research and development for One- onta Starr Ranch Growers in Wenatchee, Washington, has been appointed to the Washing- ton Tree Fruit Research Com- mission's board of directors to represent the Washington Apple Commission. He succeeds Dan Flick. Also on the board are: Jim Doornink, Tom Butler, Harold Schell, Brent Milne, Dena Per- leberg Ybarra, Rob Lynch, Jake Gutzwiler, and Jim Koempel. The Apple Commission has appointed Steve Clement, general manager of Sage Fruit Company, Yakima, to the U.S. Apple Associ- ation board of trustees to succeed Dale Foreman. B-be-bee beard U niversity of California com- munications specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey won the top fea- ture award from the international Association for Communication Excellence with this photo of vis- iting scientist Jakub Gabka of Poland with a bee beard. Garvey, who works with the UC Davis department of entomology and nematology, captured the shot at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at Davis. Garvey also won a gold award from the ACE for "best writing on the web." Since 2008, she has won a dozen gold awards from ACE for her writing and photography and received the Outstanding Professional Skill Award for Photography in 2012 and 2013. Industry people in the news. Jakub Gabka poses for Kathy Keatley Garvey's award-winning photo.