05/16/06 Stone Fruit Education

Stone Fruit Training. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Shippers of stone fruit are required to have a person trained in proper fruit cutting and larvae identification. The Washington State Department of Agriculture and Washington State University offer a special training session for certification. Wendy Jones from WSU's Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center explains. JONES: It's an annual class and it's just training the people on the packing line that do the evaluation of the fruit to see if they're infested with the quarantine pests for BC and Mexico. Mostly what they are looking for is oriental fruit moth. Basically the class just gives them a quick overview of the insect, it's life history, what it looks like and how to appropriately cut the fruit looking for the larvae in the fruit. There is no cost for the class. JONES: Basically if people are going to ship their stone fruit to British Columbia, Canada or Mexico, they have to have a certified cold cutter that does the cutting. So that means someone who has been thro9ugh this class. So it's offered once a year and we've got two classes. One up here in Wenatchee on the 24th and the Yakima one is the following day on the 25th. For more information, contact Jones at the WSU Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.