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TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP FOR TREE FRUIT PRODUCTION
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET THIS DONE? This is a long-term initiative that will take a large investment over years. The relative magnitude of the problem and the breadth of our tree fruit industries require a response of equal breadth and magnitude. We are looking for partners in this effort to ensure a healthy, competitive tree fruit industry -- one that is technologically enabled and offering a multi-fold return on investment.
WON’T TECHNOLOGY JUST MAKE IT EASIER FOR OUR GLOBAL COMPETITORS TO COMPETE WITH US? Our global competition is increasingly intense. On one hand, we are not on a level playing field in comparison to low labor-cost competitors. If we do nothing to level the field by becoming more cost-competitive, we won’t be growing fruit in five years. On the other hand, technologically advanced producers in Europe and New Zealand benefit from government support and in many ways have surpassed our technological lead.
Bottom line -- we cannot compete on horsepower, we will have to compete on brainpower. We are better positioned for technological innovation than our low labor-cost competitors. Our growing conditions, industry infrastructure, and product delivery systems are unrivalled. The long-term strategy is to continually evaluate our position and continually innovate accordingly. We need to define the future of fruit production and once again, force others to try to keep up.
WON’T THIS EFFORT MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR A HANDFUL OF GROWERS AND FRUIT HANDLERS TO TAKE OVER THIS INDUSTRY? Consolidation of this industry has been occurring for years. At the same time, tree fruit producers and shippers throughout the rest of the world have been adapting technologies to enlarge production and capture market share. In fact, technology has allowed them to compete with us in ways never before possible. Yet, just as technology is a driver of globalization, it also offers a means for fruit growers and handlers to compete at all scales of operation. The real issue is the degree to which you are able to compete in a world of lower production costs with highest quality fruit. The technology roadmap sets out research priorities to help every grower and handler in the Northwest achieve these two goals.
WHEN WILL WE DELIVER? This process has already delivered in developing a strategy and in acquiring industry support. Our first tangible success was the receipt of a large Federal grant supporting precision management in tree fruit. The roadmap has identified issues that provide both short and long-term solutions. Since the industry must continually renew itself to remain competitive, this process must be ongoing.
I’M ALREADY TOO FAR INTO DEBT FOR ANYTHING THAT TAKES THIS LONG TO HELP! The roadmap doesn’t address short-term economic recovery. It is directed to long-term health of this industry. We recognize the industry hit the road for its current misfortune years ago. Some were fortunate enough to change in anticipation of the changing market place. If you are sick now, frankly, this does not help very much. Unfortunately, individual growers and the industry as a whole have shown alarming symptoms for years, and now the situation grows increasingly acute. These are desperate times – and they require strong, far-reaching actions.
Right now, many banks are using any reason they can to get out of agricultural lending. Many do not see a profitable future for us. We need to show that we can restore profitability. We need to rebuild our industry’s health. Many of us have resisted change, despite alarming symptoms, but profitability and survival require everyone to embrace change.
“The industry of the next five years must develop the answers to today’s issues…cost efficient use of all resources: water, land, labor, agrichemical, and political. We must show the financial institutions that we understand many of the problems facing our industry and will solve them.” [Charlie de LaChappelle]
EVEN IF WE RAISE THE MONEY, WHO’S GOING TO DO THIS? IS WSU, OSU, OR THE USDA PREPARED FOR THIS? Technological innovation in the past has been driven by researchers at state and federal institutions, like WSU, OSU, or the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, but it has also been stimulated by commercial operations and by individual growers and handlers. Our vision seeks to build on these foundations, which have in fact allowed our industry to achieve its historical success, but we emphasize the need for more teamwork, more cooperation, and more commitment by our research institutions to sustain profitability in our industry.
The current Technology Roadmap is a powerful example of this sort of cooperation. Together, industry representatives and researchers have begun defining a strategic vision with research priorities. This vision and these priorities enable research institutions to set direction and allocate resources. WSU’s Center for Precision Agricultural Systems exemplifies this model of developing and applying technologies to help agriculture compete. The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service is increasingly active in working directly with agricultural industries to indentify and conduct research that is relevant and productive.
WHY SHOULD PNW RESIDENTS SUPPORT THIS? Tree fruits are the economic basis of many communities throughout the region. They are high intensity, high value crops with many supporting industries. Tree fruit agriculture contributes to the health and well being of the people and their surroundings.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT FOR PUBLIC DOLLAR? What does this industry want.- Commodity support programs or increased investment in R& D with the promise of future dividends?
WON’T TECHNOLGY DISPLACE WORKERS? A very important, but very complex question. Regardless of the degree of technological innovation in the Pacific Northwest tree fruit industry, labor availability has an uncertain future. Without major revamping of immigration regulations, labor is likely to be short. It is doubtful that we will see a useful guest worker program in five years. At least one thing is certain for all of our country’s labor-intensive industries: We must continually increase our productivity in the face of decreasing labor resources.
In tree fruit production and packing, significant technological innovation will impact our workforce in at least three important ways:
It will require a more highly skilled and technologically trained, albeit smaller, workforce. A skilled workforce will receive higher wages and be employed on an annual rather than a seasonal basis, thereby improving the standard of living not only for those who labor in the tree fruit industry, but their households as well.
It will improve the health and safety of the worker by greatly reducing exposure to pesticides and adverse weather conditions, as well as providing assistance for difficult and repetitive tasks.
A healthy tree fruit industry will enhance healthy local and regional economies and raise the standard of living for all of us living rural communities. Those workers displaced by technological innovations in tree fruit production and packing will have new but different employment opportunities that may be more productive for them than currently available in the tree fruit industry today.
”Our focus is on enhancing conditions and opportunities for our workforce. Many jobs in fruit production and handling are repetitive, arduous, hot, cold, dirty, and at times dangerous. Just as the industrial revolution replaced the human back and horse as the principal energy sources, the digital revolution will eliminate low skill jobs and create new high skill positions that fully engage the human intellect.”
[Charlie de LaChappelle]
WILL THIS REQUIRE NEW ORCHARD DESIGNS? The initiative does not require specific actions on any part of this industry, rather it provides potential solutions to current and future constraints. There are evolving technologies that the industry must grab, or its competitive advantage in the global market place will continue to erode. Managers will need more options that technology will provide to meet the challenges of global competition.