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China bites into apple market
China
Wednesday 18 July 2007
Farmers have been growing apples here since before the Civil War, and as times have changed, they have changed with them, planting smaller trees to speed up harvests and growing popular new varieties to satisfy changing tastes.
Like farmers in bigger apple-producing states, they are becoming increasingly anxious about the prospect of China flooding the U.S. market with their fresh apples.
With the Farm Bill up for renewal this year for the first time since 2002, apple growers are pressing for an unprecedented amount of federal funding to develop technologies to make harvesting less costly and aid to develop overseas markets.
The value of U.S. apple production was estimated at more than US$2.1 billion last year. About 60 percent of the apples are sold as fresh fruit and about 25 percent are exported. Pennsylvania ranks fifth behind Washington, New York, California and Michigan in the number of apples grown.
Like farmers in bigger apple-producing states, they are becoming increasingly anxious about the prospect of China flooding the U.S. market with their fresh apples.
With the Farm Bill up for renewal this year for the first time since 2002, apple growers are pressing for an unprecedented amount of federal funding to develop technologies to make harvesting less costly and aid to develop overseas markets.
The value of U.S. apple production was estimated at more than US$2.1 billion last year. About 60 percent of the apples are sold as fresh fruit and about 25 percent are exported. Pennsylvania ranks fifth behind Washington, New York, California and Michigan in the number of apples grown.
