Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/418083
16 DECEMBER 2014 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com Consider for your next planting: • BRUCE PONDER • SUSAN WILKINSON • ADAM WEIL • DAVE WEIL 503-538-2131 • FAX: 503-538-7616 info@treeconnect.com www.treeconnect.com BENEFITS: • Disease tolerant • Cold hardy • Adapts well to all cherry-growing districts • Forms flower buds and comes into bearing quicker than Mazzard with a better distribution of flower buds Roots available for SPRING DELIVERY Call Tree Connection: 800-421-4001 Dwarfing Cherry Rootstock Krymsk ® 5 Krymsk ® 6 [cv. VSL-2, USPP 15,723] [cv. LC-52, USPP 16,114] "Krymsk ® 5 and Krymsk ® 6 cherry rootstocks have proven to be the best rootstock for our orchards. They are yield efficient, grow and adapt well, and are cold hardy." —John Morton The Dalles, Oregon market to reopen. When the market was last open in 2012, there were 90 Washington fruit companies regis- tered to ship to China, he noted. China is in the top three export markets for Washington apples and took around 968,000 boxes the season before the market was closed, according to the Washington Apple Commission. Washington State produces more than 90 percent of U.S. apple exports. With the large Washington crop in storage, the Apple Commission hopes to boost all apple exports this marketing season from the industry's export average of around 33 percent of the total crop to 40 percent, which would equal around 60 million boxes. "This is absolutely perfect timing," Todd Fryhover, president of the Apple Commision said in October. "It comes when the 2014 crop of our Red Delicious apples picked higher than the industry's estimate and also when we face declining markets for older varieties, like Red Delicious." He believes that exports to China could reach the 500,000-box mark, but he's hoping for a million boxes. "Our rep- resentatives in China are prepared for this and have been working with Chinese importers to make exports happen." Dave Martin, export sales manager for Stemilt Growers in Wenatchee, serves on the boards of the Hort Council and Fruit Exporters. "We're excited," he said. "It's a sense of relief, and now we've got finality to the issue, whether you like or dislike the protocol." He added that Stemilt put fruit in cold storage early in the season that could be ready to ship by mid to late November if it passes inspection. "It gives us another market—the world's largest mar- ket—at a time when we definitely need all the markets possible in this challenging crop year," Martin said. "We're ready to get busy and move forward." Steve Reinholt, sales manager at Oneonata Starr Ranch Growers, Wenatchee, echoed Martin's enthusiasm. "It's exciting news because China is the kind of market that's vital to moving this year's crop. Also positive is that we grew a lot of the kind of apples (size and profile) that the Chinese market likes." He noted that the Hort Council and Fruit Exporters did a great job in keeping the industry abreast as the pro- tocol was being developed and helped prepare industry so it could comply with the requirements if approval came after harvest. "We have fruit that will be ready to ship soon and just need the import permits from China," he said in late October. Leah Dunn, food safety manager at CPC International in Tieton, said CPC also plans to export apples to China. The protocol makes export more difficult and required preplanning by the grower and shipper, she said. "We have three times the number of hoops to jump through. It means that only the best of the best fruit will qualify," she said. • Dz ǤǤǤǤ Ǥdz —Todd Fryhover Todd Fryhover