Checking In

Checking In

Checking In. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

 

We are doing the slow wrap up on the 2013 harvest season across the northwest. Of course there will still be a lot of apples being harvested for some time but most of the other commodities have already or are just winding down. Washington State Director of Agriculture, Bud Hover has been doing a lot of traveling as of late and I managed to catch up with him for a brief chat.

 

HOVER: Cherries harvest was down a little bit. You know not only freeze on the front end but some pretty tough thunderstorms and hailstorms on the back end so I know the cherry crop was down quite a bit. I think the price is still real good. The price on apples is still holding although I know New York and Michigan have also have good crops this year so the export market, getting the China market opened back up is a priority.

 

He says he will be back on the road soon.

 

HOVER: I will be going with Governor Inslee on a trip to China in November. That is one of the things that we’re going to be looking at. I had an opportunity to talk with some of the folks at the federal level that have been instrumental in negotiating these contracts. In fact I was with Michael Scuse here a couple of weeks ago and it looks like there is good progress on that front so we’re encouraged there.

 

He also said getting a farm bill done is key.

 

HOVER: For our state it’s important because there are certain funding though the MAP program for the specialty crop block grants and some different things that provide funding for a lot of the different crops that we grow.

 

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

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