TREE FRUIT TRADE Format: PB - PAPERBACK

Longtime agricultural economist Desmond O’Rourke wrote Tree Fruit Trade as both a tribute and a cautionary tale. Along with personal anecdotes, he describes major players and organizations, and chronicles challenges like the 1988 Alar scare, changing regulations, food trends, and the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. He discusses the emergence of new threats, from the growth of Walmart to rising competition from China, and explains how the intrusion of electronics, sensors, and computerized technology has forced family-owned firms to absorb new, specialized employees. He recounts battles to gain foreign market access and the ongoing campaign to ensure adequate labor for a growing footprint. He analyzes how the availability of adequate water and a large expanse of Columbia Basin flat land allowed the industry to dramatically increase production, achieve new levels of productivity, and design orchards suited to modern tree architecture.

Desmond O’Rourke has studied and worked in the Washington State fruit industry for more than fifty years (thirty in the WSU Department of Agricultural Economics), and since 2000, as a private consultant through his company, Belrose, Inc., for 24 years publisher of the World Apple Report. He has published on many aspects of the world fruit trade, and has served on numerous national, state, and university committees.