Good Fruit Grower

February 1

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In 2012, a year of massive crop failure caused by spring freezes across the eastern United States, imported cherries from Turkey and Poland gained a strong market share, and the industry is now trying to recover, Willmeng said. With the larger crop in 2013, a restriction of near 40 percent would have been authorized under older CIAB guidelines, Willmeng said, but instead it was set at only 5 percent. "We want to build supplies, not restrict them," he said. "We want to get our market back." Montmorency The amount of cherries that can be in the reserve pool was also increased from 50 million to 100 million pounds. The industry is also more specific in promoting Montmorency tart cherries—the kind grown in the North America—pointing out these cherries are different from the redder, less sour, European varieties. The industry has spent money in recent years proving the health benefits of Montmorency cherries—for joint health, muscle recovery after strenuous exercise, and pain relief—benefits that have not been shown to exist in the European varieties. In recent years, the cost of maintaining tart cherries in inventory has fallen, largely because of a change in markets. Consumers are eating less cherry pie—and thus less canned and frozen pie filling—and more dried cherries and cherry juice and juice concentrate—all of which are cheaper to store. "Dried and concentrate are the big drivers in the market now," Willmeng said. Another change in the federal order deals with grower diversion credits. In a crop year that requires a 20 percent diversion, for example, processors get "diversion credits" they can sell to other processors. This allows some to divert more cherries, if they have weaker markets, and others to divert less and sell more cherries. Growers get such credits as well, so they, too, can buy or sell diversion credits. In the past, however, they were worth half as much as processor credits. That was changed; they are now equal in value. One big concern Willmeng has is "history." Growers had a federal order starting in the 1970s, but dissatisfaction led them to vote it down in the mid-1980s. After a few years of unregulated marketing, with grower prices falling to under a nickel a pound, they petitioned for and got the new order in 1996. "If we ever don't renew this, I doubt the government will ever help us get it back in the future," Willmeng said. "We sure need it to pass, that's all I know." • www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER FEBRUARY 1, 2014 11

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