Helping the Apple Industry

Helping the Apple Industry. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Washington Congressman Doc Hastings along with New York’s Congressman Eric Massa are trying to give the apple industry a bit of a boost.

HASTINGS: With the apple industry obviously having a big harvest last year and prices coming down there may be an inventory carryover because of how much apples were produced last year and so this is an effort by me and 41 others on a bipartisan basis to ask the USDA to consider purchasing one million boxes of apples to kind of take the pressure off.

They have sent a letter to USDA Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack requesting the purchase. The apples would be used in school lunch and domestic nutrition programs.

HASTINGS: It’s kind of a win-win situation. It would remove some inventory in the federal government which of course buys produce for nutrition programs would be getting apples at a pretty good price. So it’s a win-win situation and the program was set up precisely to do this when there is an abundance or over supply of product the government can buy that

Last week Ag Secretary Vilsack announced they were purchasing some $16.3 million dollars worth of processed apple products.

HASTINGS: We’re glad of course they’re buying processed apples because that takes some pressure off. This is the fresh apples and the last time the industry has asked that USDA do this was 6 years ago so it’s not something that happens every year but when you have an over supply as we have this year this is a good time to do it.

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