Dan Plath shows several forms of data management and crop estimation tools and spreadsheets at his office at Washington Fruit and Produce Co. headquarters in Yakima, Washington. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower) Dan Plath farms by the data. He frequently responds to this reporter’s questions about horticultural decisions with “based on our return-on-investment calculations…” Everyone in the industry says that, but the difference with Washington Fruit and Produce Co. is that “they actually do it,” said grower and longtime family friend, Charlie de la Chappelle. Carefully considered farming is a family tradition, but new advances in data collection and analysis could […]