Project Description
Growers of the Year
Featured stories about legislation, trade, and people, including awards, appear in this issue.
Click here to view a PDF version of this issue.
Last Bite — A cherry with royal titles
The Napoleon cherry, a light, yellow-skinned variety, has been called different names through the centuries, several of them relating to royalty. In the West, it’s
Grape calculators revised
The online Northwest Grape Cost of Production Calculators, developed for wineries and vineyards, were recently updated to reflect today’s values. The cost calculators, designed specifically
Washington’s grape crop down in 2011
Concord yields varied widely last year, ranging from no crop to 20 tons per acre. Suphasuk Pradubsuk Washington State’s juice and wine grape crop will
Good Point — Labor outlook is poor
Frank Gasperini Who would guess that, with unemployment at or just below double digits for three years, basic industries such as agriculture, food processing, restaurants,
Concerned about labor
Mark Rice, like almost every other commercial fruit grower, is concerned about his future labor supply. Rice needs about 100 workers during harvest, and about
Challenges lead to changes
David Rice is president of Rice Fruit Company and manager of packing and storage operations. Richard Lehnert In recent years, Rice Fruit Company has responded
Quality fruit is Rice heritage
Mark Rice chose to go with Kiku, a high quality Fuji fruit strain that is easier to grow than Honeycrisp but can sell at a
The time is right
Lunch is often a Rice family affair, as several members work in the office or packing plant. From left are Rita Rice (married to Ben),
Hort leaders discuss top issues of coming year
David Douglas President, Washington State Horticultural AssociationDavid Douglas, 37, works for the family growing and packing operation, Douglas Fruit Company, which is located in Pasco,
Committee nominations
Nominations for board positions with several Pacific Northwest fruit industry groups will be held during upcoming horticultural meetings. Cherry Marketing Committee Nominations for three grower
What changes will you make in 2012?
Many growers, particularly on the West Coast, didn’t have enough workers to pick their fruit last fall. The new year has just begun, but already
Prison worker experience was positive
Hiring prisoners to pick the tail end of their apple crop was a “last ditch” effort, but Scott McDougall believes it paid off. With 8,000
More rules proposed on child labor
Proposed new rules from the federal Department of Labor would further restrict the kind of work young people may do on farms—and might even restrict
Georgia peach growers use H-2A
Peach growers were conspicuously absent from the list of fruit and vegetable producers who suffered crop losses when some 11,000 seasonal farm workers failed to
H-2A is not for everyone
One of the biggest of the many problems with the H-2A foreign guest-worker program, from the grower’s point of view, is the inability of the
H-2A program requirements
The federal H-2A foreign guest-worker program allows employers who are short of workers to bring people into the United States to do seasonal agricultural work.