Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/52389
Who's in charge? It's not always clear, because of the overlapping responsibilities of Washington State tree fruit organizations. by Geraldine Warner ton State Horticultural Association, posed the hypotheti- cal question during the association's annual meeting in December. The answer to the question is not clear, he said, because of the many overlapping functions of the Pacific Northwest fruit industry organizations. He suggested that it would be in the industry's interest I to try to eliminate duplication among the many groups that represent it so that it can engage more effectively in legislative and regulatory issues. Mathison, president of Stemilt Growers, Inc., Wenatchee, Washington, said the track record of the Northwest tree fruit industry on legislative issues at the state and federal level has been inconsistent and the efforts poorly funded because the industry is not structured to have discipline, a focused message, or clear leadership. f President Barack Obama wanted to talk to some- one in the tree fruit industry about a guest-worker program to address labor shortages, who would he call? Who would have the authority to talk to him? West Mathison, retiring president of the Washing- "The industry organizations that represent us look the same way as they did in the 1950s," he said. Today, four organizations represent the industry at the national and international level. Six work with the U.S. Apple Association. Six represent the industry in the state capital of Olympia. Four report f.o.b. pricing and move- ment data. Eight report crop size. And no one is officially responsible for county or city issues, though many organizations probably are involved. Working hard "In good faith, everyone is working hard to support the interests of the tree fruit industry, but if we think of our own businesses, any time we have more than one person doing a job who don't have to structurally work together with discipline and accountability, normally the outcome costs more and the result is not as good," Mathison said. "I'm not saying we have to consolidate them into one group—the folks we have working for us are excellent— but we need a mechanism for all those folks to be pulling West Mathison thinks eliminating duplication of services would make industry more effective. in the same direction and structurally working together with accountability," he added. With the current structure, it's difficult for the industry to make decisions and set priorities, he said. It could be more successful if it had a unified voice. Mathison suggested that the industry form a new entity with an executive board representing vertically integrated companies, packers, and independent growers. The board Sy s s t em- C AL™ The Perfect PGR Partner Apple growers need to do many things early season at the same time to ensure quality fruit at harvest. Four of the most important early seasons tasks are 1) maximizing calcium uptake into the developing fruit, 2) improving fruit size 3) managing terminal growth and 4) managing tree fruit load. Sysstem Cal from Agro-K can improve the performance of the most important PGR tools used for sizing, thinning and managing terminal growth that are critical to maximizing fruit quality and grower profitability. 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