—by Shannon Dininny

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: It’s been a rough year for many. Escalating costs, weather challenges, new regulations, retail consolidation … the list goes on. Growers have many reasons to be discouraged this year — and yet, I see reasons for hope.

I see it in the relentless efforts of the people who support this industry, whether they are lobbying for growers’ interests at the state or federal level, conducting research to give growers better options for everything from pest control to water management, or aiding in the development of new technologies that make farm and packing operations more efficient and sustainable.

I see it in Good Fruit Grower’s 2024 Grower of the Year, Tom Gausman of AgriMACS in Chelan, Washington. You can learn about him and what he’s learned over a decades-long career, all featured in this issue’s centerpiece by Ross Courtney and photographer TJ Mullinax. We’re thrilled to celebrate Tom, who has quietly contributed to the industry and weathered its ups and downs with grace and fortitude. Unsurprisingly, he offers here thoughtful wisdom for the future. We all extend him our heartfelt congratulations!

I also see hope in the experiences that many of our past Growers of the Year shared in a story written by editor Kate Prengaman. A dozen of them talked with her about handling the toughest times, past and present, and the resilience growers need to march ahead into storm clouds and emerge ready to keep growing. Their reverence for what they do speaks volumes.

That reverence gives me hope for the young growers who appear in the pages of Good Fruit Grower each month. They all, despite the challenges, see a future in an industry they love.

I know I speak for our entire staff when I say we’re looking forward to seeing you this month. In addition to our usual work from the Washington State Tree Fruit Association Annual Meeting and the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO, we’ll be attending the International Fruit Tree Association’s winter tour in South Africa this month.

At all of these events, we expect to learn plenty to share with you, and more will come from future meetings this winter. Our wish is that our efforts to fulfill Good Fruit Grower’s mission — to educate growers — will give you hope for the future.

In the meantime, we wish you peace, and a rejuvenating postharvest breather, as you look ahead to next season.

To help us fulfill Good Fruit Grower’s mission, we’re asking for 2 minutes from each of you this month. We need information from you, all of you, to ensure we’re providing the information you most need to continue to be successful. Just click on the image below to go to our reader survey.

The information you provide will remain confidential — and hey, once you submit it, you’ll be entered in a drawing to win an Apple iPad! A free iPad for 2 minutes of your time? Sounds like a sweet deal to me.

Finally, if you’re a sweet cherry grower and you haven’t yet registered for Northwest Cherries’ Cherry Institute on Jan. 10, go online soon to reserve your ticket. Among other pertinent topics, this year’s conference includes a panel on cherry decay and dieback, information on irrigation strategies for heat stress, and the latest on little cherry disease detection by man’s best friend (this editor loves dogs). The lunch speaker will be Walt Duflock, vice president of innovation for Western Growers. He will have a wealth of information to share about technology in ag.

This year’s trade show will be sponsored by Good Fruit Grower. Be sure to visit us at the Good Fruit Grower Pavilion, and plan to join us there for happy hour at the conclusion of the day’s program. To register, click the image below.