Apple Citizen of the Year

Apple Citizen of the Year. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

It’s not every day that you have someone getting the title of Apple Citizen of the Year bestowed on them. The award is the top annual award from the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival. The 2013 Apple Citizen of the Year is attorney, author, politician and orchardist Dale Foreman. Lacy Gray has more.

GRAY: The Washington State Apple Blossom Festival is held each year from the last weekend in April to the first weekend in May. It began in 1920 and has grown to include a carnival, golf tournament, food fair, multiple parades, an arts and crafts fair, entertainment on a stage in Memorial Park, and other amusements. The recipient of the Apple Citizen of the Year s chosen each year by representatives of the region’s fruit industry. Foreman has spent 30 years as an apple industry leader and grower and the expansion of his orchards into a multi-generational family operation.

Thanks Lacy. Foreman has also acted as an apple industry lobbyist on farm labor issues and served as chairman of the Washington Apple Commission. More recently, he’s served as chairman of the U.S. Apple Association, a nationwide group that lobbies on farm issues and provides consumer education on the apply industry. Foreman and his family operate the Foreman Fruit Co. farming 2,000 acres of apples, pears and cherries. Previous recipients include Dr. Gene Kupferman, Tim Smith and Mike Hambelton. Foreman will be honored May 1 at the festival’s All Service Club Luncheon and ride May 4 in the Stemilt Growers Grand Parade.

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