Cherry Institute

Coming up this Friday is the 72nd Annual Cherry Institute at the Yakima Convention Center. BJ Thurlby talks about why the Institute is so important for producers.

THURLBY: Cherry Institute is the single day that is totally focused and the format is very similar to the Washington State Hort Association meeting but it's just one day completely focused on cherries. You know most of the talks during the day and during the sessions are horticulturally driven but there's a lot going on out there.

One of the main issues for cherry producers is the Food Safety and Modernization Act.

THURLBY: It's happened and it's happening now and we've got an update for the growers on what do they need to be ready for in 2015, this coming season. I think that's going to be a real interesting talk. You know we always try to tie in some marketing. We try to tell the story of the season and what we did and just update growers as to what direction we're going.

The Cherry Institute gets under way this Friday with registration at 8 and programs at 8:30. You can register at the door.

THURLBY: So we think we've got a day that's going to be a really good, full day of education for growers. The lunch session is going to be really interesting. We're bringing in a speaker from Chicago who works for Nielsen and who's actually going to give us a drill down over there cherry category and talk about some of the places that he thinks there's opportunity for our industry to take advantage of.

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