Press Releases
Tree Fruit Industry Hears Diverse Topics Discussed at Educational Symposium
3/6/2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 2, 2007 contact: Sheri Mierau
Reedley, CA phone: (559) 638-8260
Tree Fruit Industry Hears Diverse Topics Discussed at Educational Symposium
California peach, plum and nectarine industry members discussed a number of important issues as part of the California Tree Fruit Agreement's 1st Annual Educational Symposium. The event, held February 28 at the Fresno Convention & Entertainment Center, was attended by nearly 200 industry members including both growers and marketers. The topics discussed ranged from food safety to automated farming techniques and from retail issues to nutritional benefits of the three fruits.
"This was a very informative day," said Jim Stewart of Wes Pak, who attended the event. "The format was great because it allowed for a wide range of topics to be discussed in a short amount of time. This is probably one of the best meetings CTFA has ever held."
The day's agenda began with presentations by a panel of retailers which included Paul Stuart of Wegman's Food Markets, Inc.; Saul Zarate, of the Gigante supermarket chain in Mexico and Luis Ng, who presented information on the retail environment in China. This presentation was followed by a review of the United States Department of Agriculture's food safety inspection program which audits farms and packing facilities for adherence to Good Agricultural Practices and Good Handling Practices.
During lunch, John Connell, director of the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services provided an overview of issues concerning pest exclusion and prevention. The message conveyed by Connell to industry was that securing government financing for pest exclusion is crucial not just for farmers, but for the general public. He cited problems with citrus canker which is literally destroying the citrus industry in Florida.
"We do not want this to happen to any commodity in California," warned Connell, who urged industry members to continue to put pressure on the government and legislature to ensure adequate funding of programs designed to prevent infestation of a number of agricultural and urban pests.
Following lunch, two concurrent sessions were held as part of the afternoon program. The first session included a breakout discussion geared toward sales and marketing issues with CTFA staff presenting an overview of upcoming promotion programs for 2007 and explaining how industry members can access the wide range of market information available from CTFA, while John Lundeen of the Sterling-Rice Group provided insights about the peach, plum and nectarine consumer. Simultaneously, two separate breakout groups discussed production-oriented issues of interest to tree fruit growers. One of these breakout groups heard presentations by University of California researcher Ted DeJong on harvest models and growth simulators along with an update from Citrus Research Board President Ted Batkin on robotics and automation being introduced to the tree fruit industry. The third breakout session included a joint presentation by Dr. Jim Thompson and Dr. Michael Reid on ag innovations as well as an update on the labor and immigration reform situation from California Grape and Tree Fruit League President Barry Bedwell.
The second afternoon workshop session included a repeat of the marketing and sales presentations, while a separate breakout group heard an update on upcoming regulatory actions by California Department of Pesticide Regulation Deputy Secretary Paul Gosselin plus an informational presentation on mitigating spray drift by Dr. Ken Giles from the University of California. Meanwhile a third and final breakout session included some insightful presentations on recent discoveries about health attributes of tree fruit by Dr. David Byrne of Texas A&M and Dr. Vilhelm Bohr of the National Institutes of Health, along with a presentation by Dr. Greg Browne who spoke on replant diseases and methyl bromide alternatives.
"We were very pleased at the tremendous turnout for this event by growers, marketers, sales personnel and others throughout the industry," said Sheri Mierau, President of the California Tree Fruit Agreement "We hope it was beneficial for our members and, if so, we will plan to continue with this event in the future. As always, we welcome input from the industry about what kinds of information they would like to see presented at this type of meeting in the future."
For more information about the presentations included as part of the CTFA Educational Symposium, please contact the California Tree Fruit Agreement at (559) 638-8260.
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