Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/314286
Growers wanted for novel fruits P revar, the company that commercializes apple and pear cultivars developed by Plant & Food Research's pipfruit breeding program in New Zealand, has hired Dawn Gray Global Consulting to help develop its business in North America. Bret Ennis, chief executive of Prevar, announced that Prevar had reached a point where it needed additional resources to help develop and promote the opportunities for new apple and pear varieties to U.S. and Canadian growers and marketers. Prevar is looking to license the commercial rights in North America for its Piqa brand of novel apples and pears, he said, and Gray will play a lead role in that project. These varieties include, for example, crosses of Asian and European pears. Gray has consulted for other fruit entities including the Oppenheimer Group, Turners and Growers, and ENZA International. For more information, check the websites www.prevar.co.nz and www.piqafruit.co.nz. Sage Fruit gives for kids Y akima Memorial Hospital thanks Sage Fruit Company for a $30,000 donation for a health and fitness program for children and their families. The ACT! Get Up, Get Moving program is a partnership of the hospital, Sage, the Yakima Family YMCA, and the Safeway Foundation. USApple president visits the other Washington J im Bair, president of the U.S. Apple Association, made his first trip to Washington State in late April since taking over the helm of the organization from Nancy Foster at the beginning of the year. Bair, who grew up on a row crop and livestock farm in Iowa, has 30 years of experience in food and agriculture asso- ciation management, mainly in the grains industry. He spent his first few months at USApple overhauling its financial man- agement system to make it more efficient and identified a need to seek more sup- port from allied industry businesses such as apple processors. "Having grown up on a farm, I under- stand how precious grower dollars are, so it's an opportunity for me to be very transparent and make it clear that grower dollars are being stewarded carefully and being invested wisely," he said. USApple's mission is to advocate for the U.S. apple industry partners on national issues in order to promote the profitable production and marketing of apples and apple products. Bair said he will be looking for further efficiencies internally and will make sure that the staff and their resources are lined up with the association's mission. During his visit to Washington, he wanted to hear what rank-and-file growers and apple leaders think are their priorities. He hopes to forge coalitions with other agricultural groups that have similar interests in order to be more effective in legislative issues, such as immigration reform. "If we can reach out and build an effective coalition, that's just smart business," he said. "That's doing more with less." www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER JUNE 2014 5 Read more Quick Bites at www.good fruit.com. Q UICK BITES 509/662-6931 www.cameronnursery.com 1261 Ringold Rd., PO Box 300 • Eltopia, WA 99330 We ship nationwide, so please call for price and availability! Order 2016 Trees NOW PAUL TVERGYAK 509-669-0689 ptvergyak@genext.net CONTRACTS for 2015 and beyond! Custom Contracted Apple, Pear, Cherry & Peach Trees ✔TOP QUALITY ✔VIRUS TESTED ✔VERY COMPETITIVE PRICING HIGHEST QUALITY FRUIT TREES ! Call for: • TREES • ROOTSTOCK • INTERSTEMS • BENCH GRAFTS • SLEEPING EYES • ROYALTIES Jim Bair