Russia Ban Hurts Fruit

Wednesday's announcement by Russian President Vladimir Putin on banning all U.S. imports is going to cause some trouble for the northwest tree fruit industry. Washington Fruit Commission President B.J. Thurlby.

THURLBY: Well we actually got the formal letter emailed out this morning and it's really interesting, they've got all these numbers attached; it just says U.S. Fruits and Vegetables. I have no idea, neither does anybody else in our neck of the woods what these numbers attach to, but when they say all fruits and vegetables that's a big deal for our state.

He does remind is that it's not a major deal for cherry growers though.

THURLBY: Obviously we want every market we can possibly have access to but at the same time it's a big deal for our apple and pear growers. So, it's not good. We're not happy about it at all and it's disappointing.

Thurlby looks beyond the local impact.

THURLBY: I have personal friends that work for us at the commission and work for the Apple Commission, work for the Pear Bureau who are basically out of business. Your heart goes out to them because you're thinking, what are they going to do? They're representing products here from the United States. They're great, talented marketing people. It's one of those things, that side, the human side that of course this political situation doesn't necessarily take into consideration. There are good people over there in Russia that are out of business.

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