Good Fruit Grower improves service to growers

As the Northwest Tree Fruit Industry races toward 2014, the team at the Washington State Fruit Commission has been racing to meet the new year head on with powerful promotion programs for stone fruit and a new approach to content at WSFC’s flagship grower educational vehicle … Good Fruit Grower magazine. Increasing  Good Fruit Grower’s reach out to the tree fruit industry comes at a time of unprecedented growth in the realm of mobile information gathering and communications through various channels of social media.

On that note, I hope that you  you are receiving our weekly eFlash newsletter. eFlash is simply a real time communication device that shares pieces of key information as they become available. Like our website, we are working to make all of our digital content accessible through any and all mobile devices. While it is not our goal to draw your attention away from the world class information found in the print edition of the Good Fruit Grower … it is our goal to educate as many growers in as many ways as possible. Why are we doing more with eFlashes, Twitter and Facebook? Quite simply … because that is where a large portion of business-to-business communication is heading.

In a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center on human communication, it was found that 43% of Americans aged 16 and older now own some type of email tablet device (Kindle, iPad etc.). Interestingly, this total was only 6% of the population in 2010! Likewise, 55% of Americans now have a smart phone and 5 out of 6 homes in the U.S. now have a computer. Today … I don’t know many growers who do not have a smart phone … and I am believe all of you are using computers to help you remain viable in the tree fruit business.

The magazine staff, led by Managing Editor Casey Corr, is working hard to keep the magazine ahead of the technology curve and relevant to your business. It is my hope that all of you will continue to glean information from Good Fruit Grower via our print edition, our website and our social media reach out efforts. Here’s to a successful 2014!