blueberries

Last week, President Trump and the USDA announced a second round of Coronavirus Food Assistance Program funding, providing an additional $14 billion for producers who continue to face disruptions associated with the pandemic. CFAP 2 will be available for producers of a host of Northwest commodities, including grapes and wine grapes, all classes of wheat, apples, potatoes, pears, cherries, blueber

The American Farm Bureau Federation calls the Trump administration investigation to remedy damages to U.S. produce farmers a positive step. Last week, the USDA and USTR announced a plan to investigate and help produce farmers harmed by increased imports from other countries ...

The Trump administration this week released a report outlining its plan to address the threat posed by increased foreign imports to American producers of seasonal and perishable fruits and vegetables. The plan follows public hearings held in August, where more than 60 witnesses testified, in addition to over 300 written submissions ...

Blueberry harvest is underway across the Northwest, and growers are expecting a sharp increase in production numbers. Alan Schreiber, Executive Director of the Washington Blueberry Commission said the trend has been developing for some time ...

On Thursday, the USDA announced an adjustment to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. Apple, potato and blueberry producers are now eligible for direct CFAP payments. Central Washington’s Dan Newhouse said this adjustment is key for the farm economy, especially Northwest producers. ...

China said late last week it would immediately allow imports of barley and fresh blueberries from the United States. That move came just days after announcing plans to impose tariffs on barley imports from Australia, as well as blocking Australian beef imports ...

According to NASS there was a lot of variation in fruit production between Washington and Oregon last year. Washington produced 7.22 billion pound of apples last year, up 13% year over year, with a total value of $1.96 billion, down 8% from 2018 numbers ...

Senators Gary Peters of Michigan and Richard Burr of North Carolina are working on bipartisan legislation to give the U.S Commerce Department a greater ability to defend smaller segments of agriculture.  According to Politico the bill would give Commerce greater authority to “self-Initiate investigations” to help those less influential sectors combat potential trade manipulation. Peters s... Read

The Washington Blueberry Commission board will hold a long-range/strategic planning meeting January 27th and 28th in Bothell.  The WBC says this is one of the most important meetings in the Commission’s 50 year history.  In 2019, 155 million pounds of fruit was produced, an 8.6-fold increase...

Mechanical harvesters.   Typically when we discuss that technology, focus turns to the tree fruit industry, or vine and plant fruit crops, such as grapes and berries, bound for processing.   However, researchers at Washington State University and a host of other Land Grant institutions continue to push for harvesters that can pull fruit destined for fresh markets.  WSU’s L...