10/10/05 Good harvest for Idaho fruit growers

They're still harvesting apples and will be doing so for at least another month at the 300 acre Williamson Fruit farm in Canyon County. Sue Williamson says it's been a good year but they had some weather problems. WILLIAMSON "Poor pollinization this spring, it was pretty wet, pretty windy so the bees didn't do quite as well as we'd like. Not as many fruit on the trees." Williamson says the lack of fruit was evident in their first crop of the year, cherries. WILLIAMSON "Pretty good crop on the apricots. Peaches were down quite a bit. Apples is an average crop." Williamson isn't one of the largest fruit growers in southwestern Idaho but their markets stretch across the country and into Asia. WILLIAMSON "The entire crop of white peaches all went to Taiwan. It was a wonderful crop for those and they packed out really well so we were really pleased with that. Did a lot into Minnesota, Dallas, Texas. A lot of the early fruit went to the East Coast, the Northeast, you know we're talking Boston area, Philadelphia area. This is a nearly 100 year old company but Sue Williamson says they're always finding new markets, willing to try new varieties and ideas. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott