By PVM general manager John Reeves

The Annual Meeting of The Washington State Horticultural Association held earlier last week in Yakima, northwestern U.S., had the usual elements, making it the customary get together for the fruit industry that's been here for the past 108 years. It also had something which isn’t always part of the program though. There were a lot of growers with big smiles on their faces.

These are indeed good times for these Washington State growers as the stars have aligned to set the stage for another season of good, no make that great, prices. This year has shown a record apple harvest when many of the other production areas have been hit with serious crop reducing blows from Mother Nature.

However, even with these oh so welcome smiles, these growers are 'farmers' so they know to enjoy these good times because in agriculture, no matter how hard you work, the good times usually do not last forever.

As good as things are now, there continues to be some of the same challenges to solve which have been part of the apple business for some time now. These are issues which are best dealt with now, if a foundation of strength is to remain.

Along with the need to profitably move the constant potential of nearly 130 million cartons in the fresh market when conditions are more normal in terms of supply and demand, there should be some concern when it comes to many of the varieties coming on line.

All too often in a world where new varieties are seemingly introduced on a weekly basis, with the very rare exception, there is the almost boring sameness to these selections. Usually introduced with great fanfare, for most the 15 minutes of fame are most likely to be more like five.

While the apple section in the standard supermarket produce department may carry the nine traditional apple varieties, and explode two-fold during a Fall ‘Apple Rama’ promotion, when taken over the season the per capita consumption of fresh apples in the U.S. continues to fall.

As beautiful as those apple departments may look, it begs the question, even with the scope of the selection always present there, whether its potential has been realized.

Yes, it is a section with a range of colors, flavors, health and convenience about which the growers should be proud, but what other possibilities might be out there? Are there selections which can reverse that declining per capita consumption number?

This is the prospective which has formed the thinking behind a new company we're calling calling Proprietary Variety Management, most easily remembered as PVM and also located in Yakima.

PVM is bringing something unique to the fruit industry which, while not promising to continue the good times - no one can do that - does offer a program more likely to help the growers make practical decisions in the future.

The selection of varieties will of course be among the most important of those decisions and to be of assistance here it will be focusing on the provision of new innovative intellectual properties. It's one thing to make this IP material available as it will come from a wide range of domestic and international sources that have been previously cultivated by us. It's yet another to see that these varieties are properly commercialized.

The nursery industry has traditionally provided this service, and to the extent it has done this activity, has served the growers well. But will the nursery industry be able to meet the needs of a whole world of changes at orchard level let alone the shifts coming all the way to the supermarket produce department?

Our primary focus is to provide related information to add innovative direction to the industry in its entirety; to help growers make variety decisions not on product categories available today (from the fresh market all the way to processing), but those highly likely to also be more important in the future.

This means valuable assistance in the commercialization process beyond that provided by nurseries at the moment. The new company will work to help those products reach their full marketing potential.

John Reeves is also the general manager of Pink Lady America.

www.freshfruitportal.com