11/09/05 Fruit industry says more research

One thing that has caught the attention of U.S.D.A. Secretary Mike Johanns during his Farm Bill Forums is the desire of specialty crop growers, especially those in the fruit industry, not for program supports but for increased supports for market access through removal of technical barriers and greater research opportunities and increased funding for private and public entities that support research and development. For example, Prosser area grower Bill Howell says more federal funding of A.P.H.I.S. inspection programs would benefit the apple industry. HOWELL: A lot of them are grown here, but none of them originated here. And for our growers to have them and to produce them and to be able to compete in the global market, they had to be imported through an A.P.H.I.S. approved quarantine station where the testing is done and they're treated so that exotic pest don't enter the country along with this vegetatively propagated material. Chelan area grower Randy Smith says increased federal funding is also needed for land grant universities that support the fruit industry through research and various extension programs. SMITH: I would submit to you that that land grant university system is in a unique position to help move our society forward on essentially all of these fronts, if they are provided the resources to ensure the capacity to do so. What's more important is the downward trend in the federal commitment I have witnessed over the last twenty years.