Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/50987
New Equipment & Technology showdown on the budget in general and the Farm Bill in particular, it is difficult to imagine that specialty crops will ever again be considered "minor crops" or that scientists working on apple, berries, cherry, grape, hops, peach, pear, potato, or zucchini will not have an opportunity to compete in a peer-reviewed process with their colleagues in field crops or livestock. This is a paradigm shift of cos- mic proportions for which the Tree Fruit Technology Roadmap can claim some credit. Furthermore, within the Pacific Northwest, the Roadmap catalyzed a whole range of investment in tree fruit research and extension activities. Over a dozen new scientists have been recruited into new positions to work on tree fruit. These scientists have successfully com- peted for millions of dollars in funding at the federal and state level, building a legacy that will continue to pay off through their careers and redound to the benefit of our tree fruit industry. Referendum It is gratifying for me to point to the recent passage of a referendum by Wash- ington apple and pear growers to impose an assessment that will raise an endow- ment of $27 million over the next eight years to invest further in research and extension with Washington State University, our most significant research partner. This endowment, the largest ever in WSU history, will be invested to take research and extension activities in Washington to the next level, benefiting both current and future generations of our industry. While not a direct endorsement of the Tree Fruit Technology Roadmap, this far- sighted action by the Washington pome fruit industry certainly carries its vision forward. Of course, any such campaign, waged over ten years, is not the work of a single individual. Credit for the initial Roadmap concept and foundational work goes to Dr. Fran Pierce, former director of the WSU Center for Precision Agricultural and Automated Systems. Early stalwarts in Roadmap activities came from across the country: Dr. Herb Aldwinckle, Cornell University, Geneva, New York; Phil Baugher, Adams Country Nursery, Pennsylvania; Clark Seavert, Oregon State University; Dr. Dariusz Swietlik, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service in Wynd- moor, Pennsylvania. At the federal level, Drs. Scott Cameron with the ARS and Tom Berwick and Dan Schmoldt of the USDA's National Institute for Food and Agriculture were early supporters. Without the tireless efforts of Jim Cranney, then at U.S. Apple Association, the Roadmap would have never been realized. Finally, Washington industry leaders like Dave Allan, Tom Butler, Charlie de La Chapelle, Jim Doornink, Rob Lynch, and Brent Milne kept the Roadmap on track. Is the Roadmap a success? It failed to lower production costs, but our tree fruit www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER DECEMBER 2011 19 industry undeniably has more promising and profitable days ahead because we came together ten years ago to commit to a bold and innovative vision for our preferred collective future. Consumers can also look forward to continued access to safe, affordable, healthful, and delicious fruit and fruit products. • T he Technology Roadmap for Tree Fruit Production was conceived a decade ago in the Pacific Northwest as a way to help fruit growers remain competitive in the world market. The growers and scientists who developed the Roadmap concluded that the pathway to success was paved with technological innovation. It soon became clear that growers across the country faced the same challenges, and the Roadmap became a national effort to secure funding for research to address the U.S. tree fruit industry's needs. An unprecedented amount of funding for specialty crop research—much focusing on new technologies—was included in the 2008 Farm Bill.