03/28/05 The official fruit of Oregon?

03/28/05 The official fruit of Oregon?

The idea began several years ago when Oregon pear growers and other commodity groups were trying to create awareness of their product with the Oregon State Legislature. MOFFITT: I started looking into state fruits and I know that Washington State has the apple, but Oregon at that time had no state fruit and still have no state fruit. With support from several of the large shippers in Oregon as well as some outside suppliers we raised some funds to begin a program to talk to the legislators about making pears Oregon's state fruit. And Kevin Moffitt of U.S.A. Pears says it didn't take much to convince the Oregon State House to adopt the resolution. MOFFITT: The vote was 51 to 0. That was after some testimony by myself as well as the Hood River Blossom Court and some other people in the industry testifying in favor of this resolution. The Oregon State Senate next considers the measure. Moffitt says the reason for the resounding support is not just the crops' value&number one among fruit crops and connected salaries equaling $100 million dollars. It's the added value that could come with such a recognition. MOFFITT: We suggested that maybe we work with some retailers to do state fruit sampling, to work with restaurants in doing dishes with the state fruit. And that is what really excited them about it. It was not because we were just going to be listed in the blue book as the state fruit, but that we were going to capitalize this and bring some money back to the industry through this designation.
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