Jul 10, 2014

Four Washington fruit groups to merge into one

Four tree fruit organizations in Washington state will merge into one this year.

The Washington State Horticultural Association (WSHA), Washington Growers Clearing House Association (WGCH), Yakima Valley Growers-Shippers Association (YVGSA) and Wenatchee Valley Traffic Association (WVTA) have all agreed to consolidate into a single organization, which will most likely be named the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, said Kirk Mayer, WGCH’s manager.

The idea behind the merger is to make the services provided by all four groups – which include lobbying at the state capital, gathering and reporting data (on movement, storage, pricing, etc.) and providing education and training programs – more efficient, which should benefit the state’s tree fruit industry, according to backers.

Now that it’s been approved, the goal is to have the new organization up and running, and providing services, by Sept. 1. In July, a transitional board of directors (with members from each organization) named Jon DeVaney as president. DeVaney, who’s been YVGSA’s executive director since 2009, will appoint staff members and work with the transitional board until a permanent board of directors is elected by the new organization’s membership this fall. The permanent board will take office at WSHA’s annual meeting Dec. 1-3 in Kennewick, Washington, according to WSHA.

Mayer said the new association would take over management of the annual hort meeting.

The four organizations will gradually transfer their services to the new association, with the goal of shutting themselves down by the end of the year – provided the transition goes smoothly. Mayer will assist with the transition but plans to retire in the near future (along with two other leaders of the merging organizations), he said.

According to a draft merger proposal, membership in the new association will be divided into grower, packer, marketer and associate classifications. The draft proposal gives an estimate of the dues each member would pay: growers would pay an annual fee of $100; packers would pay $7.50 per 1,000 cases; marketers would pay a flat fee of $1,500 (less than a million boxes) or $2,500 (more than a million boxes). In addition to membership dues, there will be registration fees for the annual meeting.

The new association’s permanent board of trustees will have 13 positions: five seats for independent growers, five seats for packer/marketers, two seats for “at large” growers and one seat for a marketer. Trustees will serve three-year terms, no more than three terms consecutively (terms will be staggered during the first election to start the rotation), according to the draft proposal.

Consolidating industry

WSHA, WGCH, YVGSA and WVTA officially announced the merger proposal last December, during the annual hort meeting. Up to that point, they’d been in formal discussions for about a year.

A potential merger has been discussed on and off for the last couple of decades, but recent consolidation in Washington’s tree fruit industry brought the possibility to the forefront. To give an example, WVTA had 45 members two decades ago. In 2013, there were 22 members – but those 22 produced more fruit than the 45 did, said Charlie Pomianek, WVTA’s director.

Frank Lyall, a grower and member of WGCH, said the state’s tree fruit industry has less than half the growers it did 20 years ago, and has lost a significant amount of its political power.

Before the announcement, the four organizations formed a task force to study a potential merger. The task force hired a consultant who interviewed growers, politicians and economists involved in the industry. Based on those interviews, the consultant found that the major needs of the industry were for timely and accurate reporting of data, good educational programs and strong legislative and regulatory representation, said West Mathison, president of Stemilt Growers and member of the transitional board.

Perhaps the most important need stated, however, was for the Washington tree fruit industry to speak with one voice. Legislators and regulators often get mixed messages from different industry groups instead of one consistent message, Mathison said.

“In the regulatory and legislative process, if there’s not extreme clarity then your position is compromised,” he said.

– Matt Milkovich