01/23/09 The Politics ofr Fruit Part 2

The Politics of Fruit Part 2. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. The laws, rules and regulations that govern the fruit growing industry can be a bit daunting and even most politicians don't fully understand what fruit growers have to go through just to produce a box of fruit. MATHEWS: Our state needs to understand that you compete in business and compete in the cost of production with 36 other U.S. states and apple growing nations across the world and that they need to understand your costs and labor, fuel, fertilizer and cardboard boxes have increased significantly. The layers of regulations and taxes imposed by the state reduce everyday your ability to compete. That's Keith Mathews with the Yakima Valley Growers-Shippers Association. MATHEWS: The legislature mostly I think is driven by urban concerns and employers within King County. They tend to have little knowledge about what it is you do or concern about agriculture in general. If there is one positive however, the party that is now in control of all branches of government in Washington State publicly speak about wanting to represent all of Washington and publicly speak about wanting to sustain you and your business. Mathews says it is important for all of the tree fruit industry to work together to make sure our politicians know and understand how what they do impacts the work producers do every day. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.