Apple Growers Explore Forming Co-Op The Group’s Main Objective Would Be To Boost Net Returns

Some of the state’s biggest fruit-growers and shippers are looking into the possibility of forming a freshapple marketing cooperative that would give growers authority to set minimum prices.

The informal group, which includes about 40 shippers in both the Yakima and Wenatchee districts, is investigating a cooperative structure after several years of low grower returns.

“The whole focus is to increase net returns. The bottom line is the growers have to make money or there is no industry,” said Jim Brown, in-house counsel for Oneonta Trade Corp., one of Washington’s largest fruit-sales companies.

A committee has been appointed to study the legalities of cooperative structure, Brown said Wednesday. The panel is examining a range of possibilities, from maintaining the status quo to seeking establishment of a federal marketing order, and likely will settle on something between those extremes, he said.

Returns for apple growers have been low for most of the past eight years, as harvests have increased steadily.

This year, state growers are trying to market a fresh apple crop that exceeds 95 million 42-pound boxes. And like last year, market prices have mostly hovered at or below production costs. Washington’s top grade, extra fancy apples are selling wholesale for around $12 a box.

Brown said there appears to be general agreement that changes are needed if the industry, a collection of fiercely independent operators, is to remain vibrant.

“After several years of tough marketing, people do want to do something,” Brown said. “It has reached a point that most every player realizes we have to do something.”

A grower organization, meanwhile, is calling for establishment of a bargaining structure to negotiate prices for apples that are going to processors rather than to the fresh market.

The Washington Association of Apple Growers suggested a bargaining cooperative would allow growers to maximize returns on culled apples destined for juice or sale as canned or frozen fruit.

As a side benefit, such a structure could establish a floor price for fresh apples.