Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/681909
28 JUNE 2016 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com Already, a dozen of the industry's largest sales compa- nies have come together to create a marketing advisory board, chaired by Robert Kershaw, president of Domex Superfresh Growers. In addition, representatives of fi ve companies comprise a subcommittee that will help to develop quality standards for Cosmic Crisp. Ensuring high quality The subcommittee, chaired by Dave Allan of Allan Brothers Inc., who has been growing WA 38 in an orchard test block for seven or eight years, has met just once so far. But Allan said it's clear that everyone involved views the adoption of quality standards for Cosmic Crisp as a cooperative effort, which he called "signifi cant." The market for Cosmic Crisp will be established on the retail shelf, he said, and any product that does not meet consumers' needs will remain on the shelf and get old. "If the product sits on the retail shelf and it doesn't sell, then one of two things happens: Somebody picks it up after it sat on the shelf too long and the quality isn't very good, or the retailer takes it as a loss, a shrink. Both of those situations are bad," he said. "That is probably the primary driver of why we need to have some unifi ed, uniform standards that we can work to." The subcommittee made just one recommendation in its fi rst meeting, asking WSU to continue developing best practices for growing and storing Cosmic Crisp. However, the subcommittee members also discussed other key areas of importance to growers of WA 38: —Should standards compliance be administered by the Washington State Department of Agriculture or by the industry itself? Having the industry handle compliance would allow producers of Cosmic Crisp greater latitude to change standards very quickly, without any bureaucracy, but they also would likely incur additional costs. "Traditionally we've always had compliance with WSDA administrating it, so considering an industry compliance system, that in and of itself is a pretty signifi cant question," Allan said. Continued from page 24 1997 Washington State University breeder crosses Enterprise and Honeycrisp apples to create WA 38. 1998 Seeds germinated and raised in a greenhouse at the Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center. 1999 Seedling budded onto Malling 9 rootstock. 2001 Tree planted in seedling evaluation orchard at WSU's Columbia View orchard. Fruit from this original budded tree was evaluated in 2002 and 2003, when it was advanced to phase two evaluation. 2004 Buds taken from the seedling tree and propagated onto M.9 rootstock. 2006 Five trees planted at each of three sites in central Washington. Additional trees budded onto M.9 rootstocks for larger plantings in 2008. 2008 Trees planted in four locations across Washington and evaluated for horticultural traits and storage behavior. 2009 Consumer evaluations by Dr. Carolyn Ross of WSU's Department of Food Science and Nutrition showed WA 38 rated higher than Fuji for overall acceptance after four months of storage as well as for fl avor intensity, crispness, fi rmness, and juiciness. 2014 WSU announces the apple known as WA 38 will go by the brand name "Cosmic Crisp" for marketing. WSU also holds a lottery for the fi rst 300,000 trees to be released for planting to growers. 2015 WSU holds a second lottery upon learning more budwood will be available for fi nished trees. 2017 Growers will plant the fi rst commercially available WA 38 trees. 2020 The fi rst sizable commercial crop of WA 38, roughly 48 million pounds of fruit, is expected to be harvested. That number is anticipated to grow to nearly 307 million pounds by 2023. 1997 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 Developing the Cosmic Crisp souRCe: washinGton state uniVeRsity Photo by tJ Mullinax/Good FRuit GRoweR "Bird Gard has been phenomenal, this is the best bird control on the market! Cullage from bird damage is down at least 70%. I'm now a Bird Gard believer, and you can quote me on that!" Heath Cleveringa, Cleveringa Farms, Prosser, WA REPEL. PROTECT. GROW. Grow your crop yields with Bird Gard 888-332-2328 www.BirdGard.com 1-YEAR UNCONDITIONAL MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE Bird Gard Good Fruit May 2C 2016.indd 1 4/21/16 11:53 AM