10/13/08 Meeting Time!

Meeting Time. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Most of the harvesting will soon be over and it will be time for the meeting season. And there are a lot of meetings planned. The Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission has a number of them planned according to Kathy Schmidt. SCHMIDT: Generally what happens with the meetings, for example with cherries, they wind up hearing final reports of people who have conducted research anywhere from 1-3 years and basically the results of the research that we have been funding. Schmidt says there is a lot of opportunity for interaction and input from growers. Afternoon sessions will include a look ahead. SCHMIDT: Which is primarily new projects. These are projects that they've gone through a screening process already which we've just completed and they are now asking for money for projects that are completely new. They're not ones that are continuing reports. The meetings are how the commission reports back to the producers. SCHMIDT: This helps them understand where their assessment money goes for research. This is actually where your dollars are being put to work. These are the researchers that we have decided to fund based on priorities that an advisory committee has set and then hopefully have some interesting results that will ultimately benefit the grower. Be sure and check with the research commission for dates and times of those meetings. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.