Creating An Endowment

Creating An Endowment. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

The Washington fruit industry has created a $27-million dollar endowment fund that will be used over the next eight years to support tree fruit research and extension at Washington State University. Grower Bruce Allen, comments on being on the committee for this and what it might mean.

ALLEN: The one thing that impressed me about the industry is our industry is fairly conservative; financially very conservative and yet almost without exception there were very few vocal outspoken critiques of this effort by the industry to self assess itself to create this endowment fund.

He says it was really gratifying to see both the apple and pear growers vote to assess themselves to create the fund which will be used to create and pay the salaries of six endowed chairs for the tree fruit research program.

ALLEN: In the original Star Wars movie where Luke Skywalker is trying to levitate his spacecraft out of the swampy bog and he says I can’t do it. I’m trying and trying and Yoda says there is no try, do or do not. And so I think the industry has given this endowment gift to WSU, now it’s time for you not to try but to do and I think given their past record I think the “do” is almost a sure thing.

Washington cherry and stone fruit growers failed to approve this special assessment for additional WSU research funding but there are hopes that they will approve it in the future.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.