02/22/05 The billion dollar secret, Finale

$5.6 billion dollars in primary and ancillary monies. 140,000 jobs. Those are the annual impacts of Washington State's tree fruit industry, and in turn, as a spin off, the Northwest tree fruit industry. Based on those numbers, there is no doubt the tree fruit industry is a significant economic engine, especially for those rural areas from Hood River to the Okanogan where tree fruit is one of the most prominent, if not the most prominent, industry for that region. But now what do all these numbers and data, acquired through a recent economic impact study sponsored by the Washington State Horticultural Association and Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission hope to accomplish? Jim McPherson of the Research Commission says the main goal is demonstrating to Washington State and Northwest lawmakers how important the tree fruit industry is to the economy, and how it should be considered when future laws that could adversely affect the industry are being proposed. MCPHERSON: What we haven't done I think is to reach out to legislators from other parts of the state, and you know, you think about folks in the Puget Sound, on the western part of the state, a lot of folks don't really understand agriculture all that much, and I think that our message is getting across. I think this economic impact study is just one way of doing that. So far that message is getting out through various media reports, and even an appearance by McPherson recently before the Washington State Senate Agriculture Committee.