August 2019

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New Technology and Buyers’ Guide

Featured stories covering new technology in this issue, and our annual Buyers’ Guide.

Click here to view a PDF version of this issue.

Despite strides toward modernization and mechanization, hand labor still drives the fruit industry in China. Here, women with ring sizers re-sort apples by size, color and quality at the Shaanxi Top Fruit Technology Co. near Xi’an in the Shaanxi Province.(Courtesy Mike Willett/Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission)

Tour of China reveals a country of contrasts

The Migrant Education Program ran from the end of June through July at Chenowith Elementary. Growers from both Washington and Oregon contributed about $6,800, which, when combined with federal matching funds, was enough to double the length of the summer program to 26 days. (Ross Courtney/Good Fruit Grower)

Growers invest in seasonal families

Pot by pot, longtime farm manager Deb Pehrson cares for apple trees from the old orchard in May, preparing them for planting at the new location of Washington State University’s R. B. Tukey Horticulture Orchard in Pullman. The university is in the long process of moving the Tukey orchard to make way for a runway realignment and extension at the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport. (Ross Courtney/Good Fruit Grower)

Moving an orchard

Bartlett pear halves. (Courtesy Pacific Northwest Canned Pear Service)

Growers feel the squeeze of another canning contraction

The world’s two largest and oldest multinational nursery organizations — the Associated International Group of Nurseries and the International New Varieties Network — are revamping to keep up with and drive forward a new world of branded varieties. Here is a look at each group’s wide reach. (Jared Johnson/Good Fruit Grower)

How growing is going global

From left to right, a yellow and green-topped Unitrap, a newer, translucent version of the Unitrap, a Multi-Pher III insect trap, a new style insect trap that Knight calls the “clear mini,” and at right in orange, a common Delta trap. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)

Fatal attraction

New biomarker tests offered by AgroFresh could help warehouses make better storage decisions about Honeycrisp, with insight into how much fruit is at higher risk for soft scald and bitter pit. The predictive screening kit includes all the equipment needed to juice peels and then drip enough juice to fill the circles on the sampling card, which is then sent back to the company’s Yakima, Washington, lab for analysis. (Kate Prengaman/Good Fruit Grower)

Revealing risks with RNA

An experimental “light sprayer” shines shortwave ultraviolet light on the canopy of a Cornell University vineyard to kill powdery mildew. At night, the fungal pathogen’s natural defensive mechanism against UV light is off, so a small burst of light is all it takes to disrupt the pathogen’s DNA, said Cornell University pathologist David Gadoury. (Courtesy David Gadoury/Cornell University)

A shot in the dark

Jeremy Leavitt, food safety and compliance director for Borton Fruit, says the company’s new facility in Yakima, Washington, includes every food-safety-first design element and technology he wanted. Shown here in May, the plant is expected to start operations this fall. (TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)

Food safety first

Coping with cold

Jaden and John Griggs, young growers from Orondo, Washington

Dininny: Good Fruit Grower welcomes new advertising sales coordinator

Good to Know: Steady growth with research in chemical thinning

Good to Know: Lessons in online learning