01/24/05 One hundred years at the Hort, Part 3

If you go by what the video presentation, 100 Years, recently debuting at the 2004 Washington State Horticultural Association annual meeting, said, then the growth in technology in the tree fruit industry has grown along with expansion of markets. But an equal factor in the growth of the fruit industry these last decades has been the ability to market first, domestically, and eventually overseas, as population outgrew the supply. According to Hort Association Executive Director Jim Hazen, that is where the birth of first trafficking associations, then later marketing associations came into play. HAZEN: The time had come for the fruit industry to kick marketing efforts into new gear. With mechanization in the warehouses, irrigation projects coming to fruition, and thousands of new acres going into production, Washington's apple crop alone was beginning a steady climb that would eventually reach as high as 140 million boxes in a single season. But the various marketing organizations, plus timing of emerging demand from Asia, led to some of the most successful marketing efforts that continue to this day. And although there has been a transition as of late in at least the apple industry from commodity as a whole marketing to more individual brand driven promotion, the impact of the marketing continues to be felt. More on that in our next program.