Agricultural economist Two decades ago, at a time when the industry had yet to produce more than 60 million boxes of apples and Red Delicious made up almost 75 percent of the crop, agricultural economist Dr. Des O’Rourke warned that it would be difficult for Washington to hold onto its market share because of the predominance of Red and Golden Delicious. He saw a need for the industry to focus on quality and for scientists to engineer quality into new varieties through bioengineering, which would require more investment in research. And, with the prospect of much larger crops, he saw […]