Winter Meetings Indicate Good Times For Growers
March 7, 2012 
Without a doubt, the mood this winter among fruit growers, particularly in the West where I largely roam, is the greatest I have seen in the past decade. Good times, really good times.
I noticed it among the apple, pear, and cherry growers of the Great Northwest attending the Washington State Horticultural Association’s annual meeting in Wenatchee the first week of December. Then again among the almond growers of California at their annual meeting later that same week in Modesto. Perhaps the greatest evidence was found among the winegrape growers of the Golden State, who as always met in Sacramento at the Unified Grape & Wine Symposium in late January.
That meeting of the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) stood out because it was such a contrast from the mood just a few years ago. You couldn’t blame them for being down back then, as heady prices in the late 1990s led to over-planting. But it wasn’t just the Californians. Australia, Europe, seemingly every major winegrape growing region of the world was drowning in an ocean of wine. Then came the worldwide recession, further hurting sales of California wine, especially at the premium and ultra-premium price points.
But happy days are here again for winegrape growers. I really can’t overstate just how stark the change was in the meeting’s tone from those of past years. Since taking the reins of Allied Grape Growers in the middle of the last decade, Nat DiBuduo has given the annual “State of the Industry” address at Unified. Year after year, one simple, utterly depressing message that Nat delivered stuck out in my mind. It’s probably the three words a fruit grower least likes to hear: Do not plant.
Expansion Looms
Last year, DiBuduo, who serves on our Editorial Advisory Board, softened the message just a little. Planting on spec was still a no-no, but if a grower had a solid contract in hand, well, that was different. But this year, DiBuduo said an overall shortage of winegrapes was forecasted, and the time had come for expansion of the state’s winegrape acreage.
That doesn’t mean growers don’t have to be careful, of course. Growers who plant varieties that have historically thrived in their growing regions almost always seem to fare better in the long run than growers who plant the latest hot variety in an area where it’s never been grown before.
Also, DiBuduo noted that while overall it appears we are on the cusp of a shortage, isolated oversupply situations can and do occur in such a market. It doesn’t do much good to ace macroeconomics while flunking microeconomics, as any banker can tell you.
But now is certainly no time to dwell on the negative. I’ve seen happy times in all these markets before, but never have I seen tree fruit, nut, and grape growers all doing so well at the same time. It’s a beautiful thing to behold, and it seems to be spilling over into all sectors of agriculture, at least regarding specialty crops.
I’m writing this column in the American/Western Fruit Grower booth at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA, where we also feature our sister magazine, American Vegetable Grower, as well as the many events produced by Meister Media Worldwide’s horticulture group. It’s a soggy, chilly morning, but the mood is anything but. Peals of laughter fill the air, and even crusty old-timers who have seen everything seem downright giddy. Good times, really good times.
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