02/06/06 The Marketing Associations

02/06/06 The Marketing Associations

Bruce Grim has worn a lot of hats since 2003 when he became the Director of the Washington Apple Growers Marketing Association and similar tree fruit entities, united under the banner of "The Marketing Associations". GRIM: The Marketing Associations is kind of the umbrella name that we have for all four of the Capper-Volstead organizations, covering cherries, pears and apples. So it takes me about two breaths to get out all the names of W.A.G.M.A., the Washington Pear Marketing, Mid-Columbia Pear Marketing, and the Northwest Cherry Marketing Associations. So what is Capper-Volstead, and what does it have to do with The Marketing Associations? GRIM: Capper-Volstead is an old act in the twenties that came in, and that essentially it was provided for growers, their handlers and sales agents, to form cooperative associations that would give them the ability to discuss price and supply issues free of anti-trust sanctions, so these are essentially a legal cartel. Now it doesn't give you the power to monopolize a market, and that's not the intent of these at all. It's simply to extract a fair return from the marketplace and through communication, cooperation, and the discussion of these issues, we think it's definitely having an impact. Grim says the organization is open to members of the tree fruit industry. GRIM: We have meetings and certainly they can contact their warehouse because most of them do participate and we have a very large grower base of membership. You can contact us at 664-5150 or go on our website, www.themarketingassociates.org..
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