Apr 7, 2007

Michigan Apple Committee Holds up Research Funding Over Foodservice Issue

By voting to table a motion, the Michigan Apple Committee set the stage for a confrontation with the administration at Michigan State University (MSU).

The issue: Should Michigan apple growers provide apple research money to an institution that won’t buy Michigan apples to serve students on campus?

The issue, which emerged in January 2005, seemed resolved last October, when top administrators at MSU, including President Lou Anna Simon, held a joint press conference with the Michigan Apple Committee (MAC) announcing that the university would buy Michigan apples. Later, claiming Michigan apples didn’t meet their quality standards, the food service department at MSU reverted to its previous practice of buying apples from Washington state.

So, during its April meeting, the Michigan Apple Committee voted to table a motion that would have released about $230,000 in funding to support apple research projects at MSU.

“We’re a little frustrated now,” said Denise Yockey, MAC’s executive director. “We hope to fix this very quickly. We didn’t vote the funding down. We don’t want the researchers to be caught in the middle. But you can see that, from the growers’ perspective, the loyalty they’ve given is not being returned.

“Michigan is the third largest state in apple production. The growers support MSU, take up their defense in the legislature all the time, and to have (MSU) choose to buy from their chief competitor – well, the growers said ‘no more.’”

The board directed Yockey to take the issue, once again, to the highest level of administration at MSU.

“We want, by no means, for the university to serve inferior quality apples,” Yockey said. “But we’re doing just fine with Kroger and Meijer and the other chains that buy Michigan apples. If we can do that for retailers, clearly we have a product that will meet the needs of MSU.

“We know that Michigan apples are more tasty, all things being equal. And our surveys show that 85 percent of Michigan consumers prefer Michigan apples.”

The issue was raised a year and a half ago when some MSU students – children of apple growers – questioned why MSU was serving Washington apples in the cafeterias and dormitories on campus. MAC took the issue to the MSU administration last year ¬– with help from College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Dean Jeff Armstrong and Agricultural Experiment Station Associate Director Doug Buhler.

“We thought we had this resolved last October,” Yockey said. “This is very difficult, very awkward.”

Apple committee member Mike Beck of St. Johns agreed it was “very frustrating.”

“Everybody’s talking about using local produce and getting local fruit into local schools,” he said. “But they weren’t taking our fruit. We’re trying to get the issue resolved, but we think we should be able to serve Michigan fruit to Michigan students.”

One difficulty might lie with the way the contracts are bid, he said. Washington apples are bid as tray pack, while Michigan’s are bid as loose fill. That could result in a different level of bruising. Another difficulty might lie within the procurement system, which may be insulated from “buy local” ideas many farm groups are promoting.

The committee doesn’t have direct access to high-level MSU administrators, Beck said.

All that said, the issue could be resolved quickly if MSU administrators chose to act, Beck said.

One grower familiar with the situation expressed concern that apple growers may be the ones to suffer if “crucial research” ends up not being done and a “good working relationship” with researchers is destroyed. The decision comes at a critical time of the year, and some researchers reportedly cannot start projects without knowing what funding is coming.