09/14/06 Next Big Thing part 2

Next Big Thing&Part 2. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Dennis Coutier is looking forward to the Next Big Thing. He's an apple producer in Minnesota that heads up the new growers cooperative called the "Next Big Thing." NBT will focus on developing and marketing new managed apple varieties, starting with a new, unnamed variety from the University of Minnesota. COUTIER: The Next Big Thing  A Growers Cooperative is an organization that we have put together, largely folks that we already had some sort of a business relationship with to commercialize new managed fruit varieties. Managed varieties meaning, we essentially take on the whole project literally from the time the breeder releases the variety right through the marketing. Coutier's main goal with NBT is to see that the consumer get's what he wants. COUTIER: Somebody decides a new variety has great promise, goes out does the marketing, creates a commercial interest in the variety and before long it tends to be over-planted, planted in the wrong place, the quality goes, the consumer could care less and all of a sudden the growers are losing money on it too. According to Coutier the apple industry really needs a shot in the arm. COUTIER: Honey Crisp is a pretty good example. Imagine, now if you've had good Honey Crisp, imagine an integrated, go to market system that assures that the quality that gets delivered to the consumer gets delivered time after time after time That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.