—by Shannon Dininny

Since 1946, Good Fruit Grower magazine has gone through several changes, from newsprint to a full-color magazine to the modern era of artful photography and design that highlights the industry’s beauty. Regardless of the era, the magazine’s stories and images focus on educating and inspiring people within the industry. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower) — Since 1946, *Good Fruit Grower* magazine has gone through several changes, from newsprint to a full-color magazine to the modern era of artful photography and design that highlights the industry’s beauty. Regardless of the era, the magazine’s stories and images focus on educating and inspiring people within the industry. **(TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)**

For nearly 80 years, Good Fruit Grower has covered every challenge — and plenty of opportunities — faced by the fruit industry. As you well know, the only constant in agricultural business seems to be change.

Our team has, over the decades, watched, learned and shared how growers evolve to remain relevant and sustainable.

It’s with that spirit we must also evolve.

Beginning with our January 1, 2025, issue, Good Fruit Grower will resize our print publication to a 9-by-12-inch magazine. That’s slightly smaller than our current footprint, but moving to a standard statement size will afford us production efficiencies and allow us to continue featuring the comprehensive articles with beautiful images and graphics that you, our readers, appreciate and expect.

Yes, change is hard. Our team’s respected coverage of the fruit industry over generations has earned a legacy of loyal readers who have loved our standout size; yet, like you, we know the best businesses must adapt. We are owned and published by the Washington State Fruit Commission, which is governed by a board of growers who understand this need to change. Our publication has always been produced by growers, for growers, and we consider it a privilege to be of service to your continued success.

Rising printing and mailing costs, along with advancing technologies, influenced this change. We have a responsibility to be good stewards on behalf of the industry we represent, and this path toward greater sustainability is not finite.

We recognize the need to apply a sustainability lens to all we do and ensure that we support growers in every way possible. In that effort, we will also be launching a modern, new website for you to access the magazine’s content online in 2025.

Over the years, Good Fruit Grower has adapted and expanded its offerings to better meet the needs of growers. These extensions include not just the website, but video, email newsletters, social media channels and, most recently, Spanish-language content to ensure all branches of our industry have the information needed to succeed. The Good Fruit Grower team also is playing a larger role in the 2025 Cherry Institute, sponsored by the Northwest Cherry Growers and the Washington State Fruit Commission and coordinated in collaboration with Washington State University Extension.

We are committed to continuing our service to this great industry. We want to innovate, create opportunities and do the right thing to help your families and businesses thrive. These changes exemplify that continued commitment. We hope you’ll continue to support us on this journey.

In the meantime, look for our team at the winter conferences and shows — the Washington State Tree Fruit Association Annual Meeting and NW Hort Expo in Yakima, the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO in Michigan, the World Ag Expo in California, and the International Fruit Tree Association’s tour of South Africa, as well as IFTA’s Annual Meeting in New York. We’ll share all that we learn with you.

Wishing you all the best as you prepare to wrap up harvest. See you soon!