Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/543863
44 AUGUST 2015 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com Washington. "The Washington apple logo was probably one of the most recognized logos in America when we had the Apple Commission. It's kind of like Nike taking the 'swoosh' off their products." U.S. consumers today don't care if they buy Michigan, New York, or New Zealand apples, Farris said. "We need to be getting point-of-purchase material in the stores and make consumers aware that they need to be buying Washington State apples." Until 2003, the Apple Commission ran promotions in both domestic and export markets and had a team of regional managers visiting retailers across the United States. "What we had was a unified marketing effort to help the shippers move the product that was difficult to move," Ferris said. "The Apple commission played a significant role in continuing to keep Washington State apples on the rack for longer periods of time. Since the Apple Commission dropped its domestic promotions, shippers and marketers have been promoting their individual brands to retailers." Exports The settlement of a lawsuit that the commission initiated (to test the constitutionality of its 25-cents- per-box mandatory assessment) resulted in its domestic program being dropped. However, it has continued to collect a grower assessment of 3.5 cents a box for its export promotion program. Traditionally, Washington has exported about a third of its apple crop. In 2012, when the state produced its previous bumper crop of 128 million boxes, a record 40 million boxes (31 percent of the total) were exported. But last season, Washington apple producers faced a number of marketing difficulties. The China market was closed for part of the season, then a slow-down at West Coast ports limited access to overseas markets during four peak shipping months. And a strong dollar made U.S. apples more expensive overseas. By the end of June this year, the industry had exported 42.3 million boxes overseas, about 6 million boxes more than at the same time during the 2012-2013 season but short of what Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission had been counting on. He had set a target of at least 50 million boxes for the year. But Farris believes the export difficulties were not the main issue. "The big problem is that we need more consumption of apples," he said. "I don't know how to market this increased production, but if we think it's going to have to be offshore, we're setting ourselves up for disappointment. Right now, we're only moving about 40 million boxes offshore and we have 150 million." Though the 2015 crop will be down from last year's, reports suggest it could match the 2012 crop. Think tank Farris suggests that the industry set up a think tank to look into the possibility of creating a unified domestic promotion program to bring all Washington apples under the same brand—just as it did when the Apple Commission was created back in the 1930s. "What we want to do is give the Apple Commission a chance to see what they can do with 10 cents a box so we have a way to rebuild the brand," he said. "Maybe it's not going to be the entire industry, but a large enough group of people so we can try to identify it as a branded apple from Washington State." Otherwise, all that the industry can do is hope it gets lucky with another disaster like the one that almost wiped out the apple crop in competing Midwest and Eastern United States when Washington had its big crop three years ago, he said. Unless there's a reduction in production of certain varieties or an increase in demand, he's concerned that there'll be a loss of growers and another round of consolidation, with the players with the deeper pockets hoping to ride out the storm. Fryhover sees hope for increasing apple consumption, The Washington Apple Commission stopped promoting the state's domestic crop in 2003. Toll Free: 855-855-0318 www.hfhauff.com • hfhauff@gmail.com We've got you COVERED! CALL TODAY for the dealer nearest YOU!