The entry of Walmart into organic fruit retailing five years ago helped fuel the demand for organic fruit, and demand is still growing despite the economic recession, according to David Granatstein, Washington State University’s organic tree fruit specialist. Acreage of organic pears and cherries in Washington State dropped between 2009 and 2010, but with young trees still to come into bearing, production could still increase, he said. “The challenge is to line up our increase in production with demand, so we don’t overshoot it,” he said, noting that there have been huge increases in shipments of Gala and Fuji over […]