08/19/08 New Hort Director Part 2

New Hort Director Part 2. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Bruce Grim has taken over as the executive director of the Washington State Horticultural Association and while he does not see any major changes in store there are some pressing issues that need to be addressed. GRIM: Obviously the labor issue is one that's on the forefront of everybody's mind and as I say we had such a very short cherry crop I'm not really sure we had a chance to test the water and find out where we are with the available labor supply. We're going to find out very soon as we ramp up Gala harvest here towards the end of the month and into the first part of September. And at the same time the winter pear crop will be starting to get underway. GRIM: Usually Bartlett harvest is short enough in the northwest that it doesn't take a huge volume of bodies to carry that out. The short cherry crop created a situation where we had adequate labor in the warehouse, we had adequate labor in the field and the test is still ahead so I think that's the thing folks are still focusing on. And what does Grim see in the crystal ball as far as prices? GRIM: I think we're ending on such a strong note that I don't believe that we can carry through the prices that we're seeing here as the season closes. I'm not sure we can move a crop in the upper 90-million at those levels but certainly where we have been through the bulk of the season and the averages that will have been in place for most of the year, I would think we should be able to maintain those. People in tough economic times kind of return to their roots and apples and pears and those things are pretty much standard for folks so I think they are comfortable making those purchases. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.