Apple Economic Impact Study

Apple Economic Impact Study. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Todd Fryhover, President of the Washington Apple Commision knew that the Washington apple industry had a major impact on the economy in the state and now he has the facts to back it up.

FRYHOVER: The Washington Apple Commission sanctioned a report done by Bruce Pengruber and Des O’Roarke and the focus of this was trying to measure the economic impact of the Washington apple industry for employment, taxes, revenues and just gives the general community an impression of how important agriculture is. we plan to use this document, in sections - not in its entirety - to address issues like labor and also with state and federal government as far as the necessity to support our industry on tax issues.

He says there is some really surprising facts in the report.

FRYHOVER: The surprising factor for me was just the confirmation of how many people the industry actually employs on a seasonal level. It’s truly amazing that there’s over 59-thousand people that are employed in the Washington ag industry and over 30-thousand of those are the seasonal workers and those are the people we really depend on to get these crops harvested and then in turn all of the people turn around and support our communities by spending their resources right where they live.

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