Sweet Cherry Research Website Part 2

Sweet Cherry Research Website Part 2

Sweet Cherry Research Website Part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Sweet cherries are a favorite with a lot of folks here in the northwest and of course there is a lot of research going on to continually improve the quality of the sweet cherry. Tracie Arnold, Project Coordinator for WSU Prosser – IAREC, says a four-year, four-state project aimed at improving production and marketing of sweet cherries through stemless mechanical harvest has launched a new website.

ARNOLD: Well it’s really an informational portal. We really put a wide variety of information on the site. It’s for researchers who are looking for more information. It’s for people involved in the cherry industry. It’s for media and just for the general public. And it contains all kinds of photos, videos, research updates, links to our e-newsletter. We have our 2010 annual report on the website now and also year two workplan.

The federally-funded $3.9 million project is headed by Matt Whiting. The project involves 11 researchers at WSU, Oregon State University, the University of California, Michigan State University and Picker Technologies of Bellevue, Wash.

ARNOLD: We’ve had a real solid and successful first year of research and overall they have made good progress toward developing the efficient planar orchard systems and effective harvest technologies and understanding the genetics of abscission, shelf-life of and consumer acceptance of stem-free sweet cherries, and studying harvest efficiencies. 

Find the site at Sweetcherryresearch.wsu.edu.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.

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