Jim Bair

The U.S. Apple Association has named a new chair to lead its board of directors. Mike Preacher, the marketing director at Domex Superfresh Growers, will serve the 2020-21 term. Yakima-based Superfresh Growers, is a fifth-generation, family-owned, grower and shipper that focuses on apples, pears, cherries and apricots ...

Time and cost are two of the factors that apple producers must consider in this day and age. Jim Bair of the U.S. Apple Association said on average it takes four years for a new apple orchard to produce market ready fruit. "It's very expensive ...

On Tuesday, several lawmakers, including Central Washington’s Dan Newhouse sent a letter to Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue asking, that apple growers be included in coronavirus relief. The bipartisan letter, signed by 25 members of Congress, calls on the USDA to provide CARES Act funds for the apple industry. ...

On Tuesday, the U.S. Apple Association, joined by apple organizations across the nation, asked the USDA to reconsider growers for Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, or CFAP, funding. According to the groups, USDA’s analysis that determined apple prices and grower eligibility is fatally flawed and does not match the reality of what is happening in the industry. ...

On Wednesday, the U.S. Apple Association joined other national agriculture organizations calling on the State Department to expedite all H2-A and other non-immigrant agricultural worker visas. In a letter to Secretary Mike Pompeo, the Ag Workforce Coalition, (of which USApple is a founding member) called for the State Department to treat all agricultural workers under emergency visa services ...