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June 3, 2016 CapitalPress.com 15 Apple commission to update export plan By DAN WHEAT Capital Press WENATCHEE, Wash. — The Washington Apple Com- mission has decided to update its fi ve-year-old export pro- motion strategic plan to stay competitive globally. The effort involves a col- lective, anonymous sharing of production and export vol- umes of fruit companies to ex- amine sales trends and make sure the commission’s export promotions align with indus- try needs. At its May 19 meeting in Wenatchee, the commission discussed whether to wait un- til the next USDA National Agricultural Statistics Ser- vice fruit tree survey is done in 2017, but decided to forge ahead sooner, including its own tree survey to anticipate production trends. Dan Wheat/Capital Press Fuji apples are packed into a 40-pound boxes in December 2016 at Washington Fruit & Produce Co.’s packing plant in Yakima, Wash. The Washington Apple Commission has decided to update its 5-year-old export promotion strategic plan to stay competitive globally. The commission had to push NASS in its last tree sur- vey in 2011, Todd Fryhover, commission president, said. “They had the largest grower unaccounted for until I got them to call,” he said. “We all know what we need to export by variety so to reconfi rm a direction is more important than what we are growing,” Fryhover said. “We’re losing market share in mature markets so this is protecting ourselves,” said Mark Zirkle, president of Zirkle and Rainier fruit com- panies, Selah. “We’re all competitive and we shouldn’t have to share our manifests but as a group if we knew what we all had cumulatively it would be ben- efi cial to all of us,” said Cass Gebbers, president and CEO of Gebbers Farms, Brewster. A lot of the information is being collected already for customers, he said. Bob Mast, president of Co- lumbia Marketing Internation- al, Wenatchee, voiced support and said a similar effort would be helpful in cherries. Gebbers said Fryhover is adept at getting companies who are reluctant to partic- ipate to do so. Gebbers said the industry is flat and stra- tegic planning helps it to be more proactive. West Mathison, presi- dent of Stemilt Growers, Wenatchee, said refreshed strategic planning gives di- rection to the Northwest Hor- ticultural Council and U.S. Apple Association. “It helps us recognize where we are at in the indus- try life cycle. We’ve just come through peaks in exports. At some point in the future the Chinese will increase con- sumption, but it takes time,” Mathison said. Stemilt surveyed growers in Mattawa and Desert Aire and learned 3,000 acres has transitioned from row crops to tree fruit in the past fi ve years and that another 5,000 is an- ticipated to switch in the next fi ve years, Mathison said. Smaller orchards north of Wenatchee are coming out and Mattawa continues to grow because terrain is fl at- ter and there’s water, he said. Housing is an issue in Matta- wa with only 300 beds put in the last five years, he said. The state’s apple acreage has remained near 160,000 for 10 years but produc- tion has increased because of high-density plantings and companies just get- ting a “whole lot better in growing fruit,” said Dalton Thomas, president of One- onta Starr Ranch Growers, Wenatchee. Frank Davis, vice presi- dent of Domex Superfresh Growers, Yakima, said a survey of trees and acreage should be part of strategic planning but that a survey of production by boxes is a whole lot easier. Fryhover said staff will start on the project with results aimed for a special meeting in the fall. Spotted wing drosophila • A type of “vinegar fly”, its ability to feed and lay eggs on ripening fruit makes it a significant threat to Pacific Northwest growers. • Adult spotted wing drosophilas are small with red eyes and pale yellowish-brown bodies. Spotted wings • Males have a dark spot on the tips of their wings. They also have two dark bands on their front legs. • Females lack the distinctive dark spot on their wings. Look for a large, serrated ovipositor protruding from the abdomen. Ovipositor Female Actual size Male • For more information 2-3 mm on monitoring, preventative, cultural and chemical controls, go to: spottedwing.org Sources: Oregon State University Extension Service Alan Kenaga/Capital Press Researchers attempting to understand spotted wing drosophila By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press Researchers around the Pa- cifi c Northwest continue to trap and try to better understand the spotted wing drosophila, an ex- otic fruit fl y that attacks a wide variety of fruit crops. The pest continues to be found wherever traps are set for it in southwestern Idaho, said University of Idaho entomolo- gist Jim Barbour, superintendent of the Parma research station. “We are fi nding (the) fl ies everywhere that we look for them, even in non-agricultural areas,” he said. “They are sur- viving in the wild.” The pest, originally from Asia, was fi rst detected in the United States in 2008 in Cali- fornia. It was found in Oregon and Washington the following year. It was detected in Idaho in 2012 in small numbers and researchers initially doubted it could survive the state’s harsh winters. Four years later, it is obvious the fl ies are over-win- tering in Idaho, Barbour said. “I think they are defi nitely here to stay,” he said. Barbour said researchers are attempting to better un- derstand the insect’s seasonal patterns “so we have a better idea where we need to focus our efforts.” He also wants to better un- derstand their over-wintering bi- ology, which could lead to being able to predict populations and emergence dates. Elizabeth Beers, a Washing- ton State University Extension research entomologist, said the pest is not going away, and re- searchers are trying to develop control programs to help grow- ers mitigate the harm. “That ship sailed fi ve years ago in the U.S.,” she said about thoughts of eradicating the pest. “It’s spread throughout the land- scape in virtually all of the U.S. now and we’re not going to eradicate it.” Unlike other fruit pests, SWD lay their eggs in healthy fruit still attached to plants, and they can quickly destroy soft fruit such as cherries, strawber- ries, blueberries, raspberries, plums, peaches and grapes. An infestation of about 25 percent in cherries can result in 100 percent crop loss, Beers said. “If left uncontrolled, it can be very, very damaging,” she said. The pest has been detected in all of Washington’s major cherry-growing districts, and it continues to be a problem for Oregon growers as well. “It’s something our ... fruit growers have to continue to deal with,” said Bruce Pokarney, communications director for the Oregon Department of Ag- riculture. “We have considered it a pretty nasty thing for several years now.” WSU researchers continue to conduct trials to determine which insecticides effectively control the pest and have de- veloped preliminary grower recommendations that can be found under the SWD section of the website, www.mount- vernon.wsu.edu, under “Spe- cial Projects.” Courtesy of Jaysa Fillmore Casey Knudsen of Declo, Idaho, shows students how to be safe around large farm machinery. Idaho FFA youths rewarded for outreach By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Online Capital Press FFA chapters in Cassia County, Idaho, have made an ag literacy event an an- nual happening for nearly 20 years, and their joint Ag Expo this year earned them recognition — and a $1,500 grant. The American Farm Bu- reau Foundation for Agri- culture just announced 10 winning schools around the country that competed in its My American Farm outreach program, awarding one to Cassia High School in Bur- ley. Cassia FFA Adviser Jaysa Fillmore applied for the grant on behalf of the Cassia, Bur- ley, Declo and Oakley FFA chapters. Outreach events have to target urban youths and in- clude at least one aspect of the My American Farm ag lit- eracy program, and the grant must be applied to a future ag literacy program. Students are also encouraged to bring in an industry expert to share their ag connection, Fillmore said. Cassia County’s four FFA chapters incorporated one of the program’s learning activ- http://myamericanfarm.org/ Courtesy of Jaysa Fillmore A third-grader plays Idaho Commodity Bingo. ities — Garden in a Glove — into this year’s Ag Expo and brought in a representative from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to talk about the agriculture-wildlife con- nection, she said. They also showed epi- sodes of “America’s Heart- land,” which celebrates U.S. food production, and had 10 stations to teach third-grade students about agriculture — from growing crops and han- dling livestock to farm equip- ment and food processing. Nearly 450 children visit- ed the Expo this year, and the majority were from Burley and live in town, she said. It’s become an event ev- eryone talks about and looks forward to all year — the students and their teachers, as well as the FFA members, Fillmore said. “We have high-schoolers who remember going to the Expo when they were in third grade,” she said. This year, it was bigger and held at the Cassia County Fairgrounds for the fi rst time, allowing more children to at- tend and stay longer, she said. “It was pretty awesome,” she said. The FFA chapters charged $1 per child to help cover costs. The grant might allow them to include additional grade levels in the Expo or help with busing costs to al- low more schools to partici- pate, she said. Or they could each use their portion of the grant for other outreach projects, which benefi t FFA members as well because they learn a great deal through teaching others about agriculture, she said. The other ag advisers in- volved in the Expo were Jesse Miller of Declo, Troy Bird of Oakley and Sam Condie, Lex Godfrey and Casey Sanders of Burley. Fillmore applied for the grant on a whim and winning it was “really neat,” she said. The grants are intended to help promote the Founda- tion’s materials for promoting ag literacy, she said. Other winners included the Elk Grove High School ag department of Elk Grove, Calif., and the Sonora High School FFA chapter of Sono- ra, Calif. Despite drought, Calif. walnut acreage, tree sales jumped in 2015 By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press RED BLUFF, Calif. — Four years of drought in California and a moderate price slide ap- parently haven’t halted a trend of increasing walnut acreage and nursery sales. California’s estimated 360,000 overall acres in 2015 were up 12 percent from 2013 levels, according to the Na- tional Agricultural Statistics Service in Sacramento. The Golden State’s 300,000 bearing acreage during the most recent harvest was up from 290,000 acres in 2014, continuing an annual climb from the 218,000 acres that bore nuts in 2008, the Tim Hearden/Capital Press A walnut tree is shaken during harvest at Lindauer River Ranch in Red Bluff, Calif., in October. Walnut acreage in California increased 12 percent last year from 2013 levels. agency reported. Combined sales of walnut trees to California growers ac- counted for 18,021 acres during the last crop year, according to a separate NASS report. That’s up from 17,076 acres of new trees in 2014 and 15,720 acres of fi rst-year plantings in 2013, NASS observed. “We’ve got a lot of nice, young orchards out there in the state,” said Red Bluff, Calif., grower Tyler Christensen, who in recent years has doubled the size of his walnut orchard. The growth comes even as farmers have had to manage or- chards with limited water sup- plies in the past several years, getting by with such tools as drip irrigation and pressure chambers to determine a tree’s water need. NASS’ acreage report refl ects the removal of about 7,000 acres of trees in the past two years, some of which were harvested in 2015 before being pulled out. One factor in the increas- ing walnut acreage is the plum orchards for prunes have been scaled back in recent years as a result of a loss of global mar- ket share, University of Cali- fornia advisers have said. Another factor has been that tree nuts are more lucra- tive than many fi eld crops, en- abling growers to afford water prices that have skyrocketed during the drought. Nurseries have reported back orders of two years or longer for walnut trees. NASS’ acreage report was based on a survey of about 4,900 walnut growers. Of the acreage reported, Chandler continued to be the leading variety with 104,450 bearing acres, followed by Hartley with 33,002 bearing acres. Chandler also accounted for 67 percent of the non-bearing acreage. Growers harvested a record 575,000-ton crop last season despite the drought and a lack of chilling hours in the previous winter, NASS esti- mated. Producers have been experiencing their first pro- tracted price slide in years, as the average price per pound to the grower dropped from $2.05 in 2013 to an an- ticipated $1.20 for the most recent crop.