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6 JANUARY 15, 2015 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com Growing in Italy Follow in-depth reports by Associate Editor Richard Lehnert on the growers and packers of northern Italy. Our 2015 special series continues on Page 20. The essential resource. goodfruit.com QUICK BITES People and industry in the news. Read more Quick Bites at goodfruit.com Washington Fruit expands W ashington Fruit and Produce company is building a new apple packing facility at River Road, Yakima, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. It is part of a long-range expansion of the property that also includes controlled atmosphere storage and cherry pack- ing and shipping facilities as well as a new headquarters for its offi ce staff. The new 300,000-square-foot apple facility will expand the company's capacity and incorporate the latest pack- ing technology. It has been designed with fruit quality and food safety in mind. Tom Hanses, operations manager, reports that the company has been packing fruit 20 hours a day, seven days a week on its existing line and wants to maintain its ability to pack to high standards as production increases. Washington's 2014 crop is estimated at 155 million packed boxes, up from 115 million in 2013. Stokes scholarship established A scholarship endowment fund has been established in the name of Tom Stokes to recognize his work as chief executive offi cer of the fruit processing cooperative TreeTop, which has operations in Washington, Oregon, and California. He will retire this year. Stokes began his career with TreeTop as production supervisor at the Wenatchee, Washington, plant and after several promotions was named CEO in 1999. He has served on the boards of the Northwest Food Processors Association, Juice Products Association, Grocery Manufacturers Association, Apple Processors Association, U.S. Apple Association, and Washington Apple Education Foundation. The scholarship, which is administered by the Apple Education Foundation, will be awarded to fi rst-generation college students whose parents are employed in a labor or entry-level position by a commercial grower or packer in Washington's tree fruit industry. Priority will be given to students intending to work in the tree fruit industry. Fifth time for cider champs J im and Becky Engelsma and their daughter, Bridget, of Engelsma's Apple Barn in Walker, took fi rst place in the annual Michigan Apple Cider Contest during the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable, and Farm Market Expo in December. This is the fi fth time the Engelsmas have taken home the trophy. Blake's Orchard and Cider Mill of Armada and their cider makers, Pete and Paul Blake, won second place in the contest. The third place winner is Klein Cider Mill in Sparta and cider maker Stephen Klein. COURTESY OF WASHINGTON FRUIT AND PRODUCE Washington Fruit's new packing plant in Yakima, Washington, will open by the end of the year. Michigan crowns new Apple Queen for 2015 M ary Stoll has been crowned the 2015 Michigan Apple Queen. Stoll, of Kent City, is the daugh- ter of Richard and Joyce Stoll and the niece and granddaughter of apple growers, the Nels and Luanne Nyblad family. She is a pre-optometry stu- dent at Ferris State University. First runner-up was Madison Rasch, of Conklin, a student at Muskegon Community College. Her parents, Duane and Amy Rasch, and grandparents are apple growers. The queen and runner-up each receive scholar- ships from the Michigan Apple Committee ($1,000 each) and the Michigan State Horticultural Society ($5,000 to the queen and $1,500 to the runner-up). MICHIGAN FARM BUREAU