This week, the California Cherry Board established a committee to discuss grade and pack standards to recommend as an update to the state’s marketing order.
“That’s a major amendment,” said David Hillis, senior agricultural economist for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, who joined the cherry board meeting on Aug. 13 to explain the process for updating the marketing order.
Currently, the California Cherry Marketing and Research Program, the state marketing order governing the cherry board, only has the authority to collect assessments for sales promotions, market development and research.
But it’s time to change that, said several industry leaders who sit on the newly formed committee.
“As growers and packers, we need to change and get a better cherry in the box,” said Fred Podesta of Podesta Packing in Linden.
It’s a topic that’s been under conversation for several years, said Erick Stonebarger, the general manager for Chinchiolo Stemilt California.
Specifically, they are considering a statewide Brix standard, since the U.S. No. 1 grade already sets size and defect rules.
“If we’re going to sell as sweet cherry, it might as well be sweet,” Stoneberger said. “There’s a market incentive to get in quick, and I believe that in order for us to sell above 10 million boxes consistently, we need to put product on the shelves where consumers are going to come back and buy another bag.”
That’s especially important in the fast and furious California season, said grower Joe Cataldo.
“We have a very short window to move a tremendous amount of fruit through the marketplace,” he said. “Instead of asking how much fruit we can pack, we need to be asking how much good fruit we can put in front of the consumer.”
Yes, as a grower, it’s hard to see fruit fail to make the grade, Cataldo said. But in today’s economy, it’s better to leave that marginal fruit in the field.
“We’ve reached a point where the cost of producing, harvesting, packing and marketing cherries is simply too high to continue putting fruit into the box that doesn’t deliver a good eating experience to the consumer,” he said.
So far, there’s broad support on the cherry board for this first step of establishing the committee, Stonebarger said.
They will likely look to Washington to see how the maturity standard established for Rainier cherries under the state’s federal marketing order is applied at the packing house, he said.
The difficult part, Cataldo said, will be figuring out where to draw the line and how the standards will be enforced consistently.
Making changes to the marketing order will take two steps, Hillis said. First, a public hearing will be required to amend the marketing order to give it the authority to set grade and pack regulations.
Meanwhile, he expects the committee to work on developing the specific standards and work with the CDFA on a regulatory framework, which would need to be approved by April 1 for the upcoming season — or any future season, he said.
