The economic situation that Washington State apple growers are struggling with today took root in the 1970s when several factors led to expansion of tree fruit acreage, according to Dr. Tom Schotzko, agricultural economist with Washington State University. Tax laws of that time encouraged orchard development as an investment; the Columbia Basin irrigation project made ground available for farming; and the closure of Washington’s sugar beet plant left farmers looking for other crops to plant. Washington’s fresh apple crop during the late 1970s had been averaging around 40 million packed boxes, but production began to increase in the 1980s. Schotzko […]