A Look Back Part 2

A Look Back Part 2

A Look Back Part 2. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report.

WSU's Dr.Jay Brunner delivered this year's Batjer address at the Annual Hort meeting and he spent time looking back at the last 35 years of crop protection and how that is translating to a better future for the tree fruit industry. He says that they have learned a lot which has made things difficult in one area.

BRUNNER: Now the challenge of our research has been recently going to an area, an orchard that had enough wild codling moth that we could actually do research in grower orchards and test these different technologies. The population of codling moth are so low, I know that's a burden for entomologists only. It's not a burden for growers but we couldn't get data working in grower orchards so we actually brought sterile codling moth from Canada and released them in these blocks.

Brunner says some technology is not borne out of crisis.

BRUNNER: I talked earlier about crisis driven adoption of technology but the adoption of pheromone technology wasn't really driven by crisis. It was driven by the industry looking for new technology, testing it, evaluating it, having adoption programs and really it was adopted because it worked. It became a foundation for our apple pest management programs.

He told the group that all these things brought hope for the industry.

BRUNNER: Knowledge is important and in this industry it always has been. WSU for their Masters of Science in Ag program, they have a new option in this program and this program is designed so that you can get a Masters degree wherever you're at. This is all online. It may be an option for you or some of your employees.

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

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