Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/769560
www.goodfruit.com Good Fruit Grower JANUARY 15, 2017 23 apple surveys were returned from nine states, a response rate of 27 percent. For cherries, 33 of 97 surveys — or 34 percent — were returned from five states. The producers, or growers, were surveyed by mail in June 2012, with 321 out of 1,000 surveyed about apples responding from five states, for a 32 percent rate. For cherry growers, 215 of 648, or 33 percent, responded from five states. The researchers surveyed consumers in October 2013 nationally through online surveys, through a research company named Qualatrics, which delivered 1,000 completed responses from shoppers who purchased the fresh fruits in question within the past three months. The contract with Qualtrics called for a demographic mix of ages, gender, ethnic background and geography repre- sentative of the population. Results As for that magic number for the breeders, Gallardo calls it the "market clearing price," the point at which the consumer's willingness to pay for an attribute in the checkout line intersects with the grower's willingness to pay to grow fruit with that attribute. "That's the money number," Gallardo said. With apple crispness, for example, that figure is $1.33 per pound. She and her team compared only grower and consumer survey responses for the market clearing prices. Meanwhile, the researchers were surprised at how well growers and consumers spoke the same language of quality. "Producers are getting to understand consum- ers, so that's great," Gallardo said. For apples, for example, consumers said they would spend the most money, $1.99 per pound, on crispness, followed by flavor and external appearance. Growers shared crispness and flavor in their top three, while packers said they would invest the most for shelf life, size and firmness. Growers and consumers also lined up on cherry quality priorities compared to packers, but to a lesser extent. Gallardo speculated packers simply have a broader array of responsibilities than growers, such as shipping efficiency and grade inspectors, and therefore may be less willing to spend money on attributes such as flavor. Naches, Washington, grower Morgan Rowe had a similar guess. "Maybe it's the fact that a grower and consumer are more alike," said Rowe, who does not pack or ship fruit. "They appreciate the same attributes, specifically eating. A packer does, too, but (packers) have to receive the fruit, store it, run it, and box/ship it. So there are possibly dif- ferent concerns to worry about." Packers appear to have selected the attributes that directly affect their reputation and efficiency, said Tim Welsh, CEO of Columbia Fruit Packers in Wenatchee. "(The) grower pays all cost of repack, but packer/ship- pers do not make money on repacked fruit and suffer consequences like a stinging rebuke when fruit is rejected at delivery," he said. Welsh and Rowe did not attend Gallardo's presenta- tion, but commented after the Good Fruit Grower shared some of her research results with them. Gallardo shared only results for apples and sweet cherries at the conference. Her team is still crunching numbers for peaches. Also, because many packers also own orchards, the team collected data about such pack- ers, but not enough to parse out any conclusions about them, she said. Portions of their research have been published in the journals HortScience, Agribusiness, Agricultural Resources and Economics Review and International Food and Agribusiness Management Review. • 1611 W Ahtanum Union Gap WA 98903 Paul Clark Phone: (509) 457-9196 Ext 101 3766 Iroquois Wenatchee WA 98801 John Vickery Phone:(509) 662-2753 Ext 201