03/21/06 Cherry groups collaborating

Cherry groups consider collaborating. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Fruit Grower Report. Earlier this month Cherry growers from Washington, Oregon and California, along with members of the Washington State Fruit Commission and the California Cherry Advisory Board, met to look at ways they could collaborate to benefit their industry as a whole. The groups have common goals to ensure sustainable profitability for cherry growers. The USDA urged the collaboration effort since they award Market Access Program grants to both the Northwest and California trade groups. The USDA wanted the groups to explore joining forces to stretch grant funding and to avoid duplication. The entire industry could benefit from combining efforts to fund and develop intelligence on export markets and a unified season-long message to buyers and consumers in key markets could also benefit growers in both regions. Strategy session participants came up with a list of potential areas of collaboration. At the top of the list were ways to boost consumer awareness of the nutritional and health benefits of cherries. The groups could also work together to help retailers understand the best merchandising practices for cherries. The Northwest and California industry groups already share a marketing representative in Australia, and a season-long USA cherry message could help both the Northwest and California. The groups have also collaborated on market access issues in Japan. That's today's Northwest Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.