Fruit Year Part 4
Fruit Year Part 4. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report.
One of the major highlight of the year was a program put on by Washington State University Fruit School called The Honeycrisp Experience: Production, Harvest and Storage a collaboration between Washington State University, the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission and Washington State Horticultural Association.
The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug was also a hot topic this past year as it will this next and can do a lot of damage to a crop. Researchers are trying to find some answers for producers. Don Weber, Research Entomologist with USDA-ARS explains.
WEBER: It attacks various vegetable, fruit and field crops. So apples, pears and peaches it's definitely on especially as they're maturing unfortunately. A lot of times that damage is hidden until you cut open the fruit which is very unfortunate. It can affect soybean as well. Various vegetables; tomatoes, peppers.
Labor was again an issue and just as harvest was about to get under way a 4th amendment to the Constitution issue came into play with the DOL. Washington Farm Labors Dan Fazio weighed in.
FAZIO: The DOL has a statute that says that its agents can enter any business at any time and question workers. There is a long line of cases that says that these types of inspections need to be reasonable in time, place, and scope, and that is exactly what the judge ruled here. In fact, the judge pretty much ruled that the DOL statute was unconstitutional.
That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
