04/04/06 Apple Slices

04/04/06 Apple Slices

Apples any way you slice it. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Recently I've found a new snack favorite. In the past I would have grabbed a candy bar or reached for a bag of potato chips. Nowadays I'd much prefer reaching for an apple. In fact apple slices are becoming a part of school lunch programs and big business. So much so that Tree Top executives have opened a new fresh-sliced facility in Selah, Washington and they hope that will translate to more money for the co-op's 1,400 grower-owners in the Northwest. Laura Prisc is the Corporate Communication manager with Tree Top, Inc and she says this portion of the market is really taking off. PRIC: The fresh cut produce and fruit market as you probably know has been growing in leaps and bounds in the last few years. People want healthy foods. They want them conveniently, something they can either fix or eat on the go. Stuff that's quick and easy and good for them. So we see this as a good growth potential in the fresh sliced apple markets in retail, club stores, restaurants, food service, school districts, those kinds of things. We just believe it's a good growth opportunity and we're investing in that. The new facility also mean more jobs for workers. PRISC: Well the new plant that we are operating has 16 new employees and when we get completely up and running with three processing lines going we'll need probably 40 people to run that plant. Tree Top Inc. has grower members in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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