July 2020 - 23

INDUSTRY NEWS
Dhingra to serve as
WSU horticulture chair
Amit Dhingra sees leading
Washington State University's
Department of Horticulture as an
opportunity to give back.
" I've gotten
a lot of support
over the years
from colleagues
in this
AMIT DHINGRA
department
and around
the university, "
said Dhingra,
a Washington
State University
(WSU) professor for 14 years. " This
is my chance to pay it forward
and support others using my
experiences. "
Dhingra was named interim chair
of horticulture. His two-year term
starts July 1.
The department includes faculty
from around Washington doing
research on a wide variety of
specialty crops, such as apples,
pears, cherries, potatoes, grapes
and berries.
Dhingra, who studies genomics
and biotechnology, has a research
program that focuses on preharvest
and post-harvest fruit
biology and quality with an
emphasis on the role of chloroplast
development and regulation
of ripening, respectively. Along
with five of his team members,
he founded a spin-out from his
program in 2011.
PMA launches online
produce safety program
The Produce Marketing
Association (PMA) has launched
its eLearning
certificate course
Essentials of
Produce Safety,
an entirely
online, affordable
and in-depth program covering the
key challenges and best practices in
produce safety.
The course is the first certificate
program in the Produce
Marketing Association's new
educational platform offering,
FreshEd Academy. The course was
developed in partnership with
Intertek Alchemy, the industry
leader in produce safety eLearning
solutions.
Taught by produce safety experts,
Essentials of Produce Safety is
available to individual learners and
employee groups alike.
" It is critically important for
produce safety supervisors and
managers to have an opportunity
to receive education on why they
are doing what they do, and to
gain insights into how to do it
even better, " says course author,
instructor and former PMA Chief
Science & Technology Officer,
Robert Whitaker.
Essentials of Produce Safety is
now open for enrollment. To enroll
or learn more, visit: www.freshed.
academy/
Jim Allen retires after
service to fruit industry
Jim Allen, vice president of
marketing for New York Apple
Sales (NYAS), retired effective June
26. Allen has been with NYAS since
February 2017.
ITC to track, measure
tart cherry imports
Democratic U.S. Senators from
Michigan Debbie Stabenow and Gary
Peters announced May 29 the U.S.
International Trade Commission (ITC)
will begin tracking foreign imports
in order to accurately measure the
impact of trade on Michigan's tart
cherry industry.
In January, Stabenow and
Peters blasted the commission's
decision not to impose tariffs against
Turkish tart cherry exporters. Turkey
has dumped low-quality dried cherries
into U.S. markets, creating a trade
imbalance that has harmed cherry
growers. As part of its justification
report, the commission claimed they
did not have specific enough data on
dried tart cherry imports to include in
their investigation.
Jim Allen and Tenley Allen Fitzgerald
According to a news release, Allen
has been in the produce industry
for 48 years, starting in 1972 in the
fruit processing business. In 1980,
he gained his marketing experience
with Keystone Fruit Marketing,
Greencastle, Pennsylvania.
In 1996, Allen joined the New
York Apple Association as retail
promotions director, and in 2000 he
became president and CEO of the
Association until his retirement in
2017. Allen joined New York Apple
Sales Inc. in April of 2017. He has
been highly active over the years in
the U.S. Apple Export Council, U.S.
Apple Association, United Fresh
and numerous New York state
agricultural groups.
Allen was named Apple Person
of the Year in 2002, earned the
first ever Apple Champion Award
from USApple in 2016, and the
New York State Agricultural
Society Distinguished Service
Citation in 2019.
Tenley Allen Fitzgerald will be
taking over the marketing position
at NYAS from her dad, Jim Allen.
Fitzgerald graduated from
Cornell University in 2009 with
a bachelor of science in food
industry management. She
had been working as a brand
marketing consultant for NYAS. She
orchestrated the launch of NYAS
new consumer brand, Yes! Apples.
As vice president of marketing,
she will continue her efforts with
the new consumer brand, including
all brand touchpoints. She will
also coordinate all marketing and
promotional activities with the
managed variety groups for the
club apples that NYAS markets.
The senators urged the
commission to collect additional
statistical information to allow for
better monitoring of dried cherry
imports. The request was approved
and will go into effect on July 1.
" Michigan's world-famous cherry
industry has struggled because of
Turkey's unfair trade practices, "
Stabenow said. " This decision is
a critical step in holding foreign
competitors accountable and
protecting our growers. "
" Unfair trade practices have
completely devastated our cherry
growers in Michigan. By previously
not collecting all the available
information on dried cherry
imports, the ITC was deepening the
misleading discrepancies and further
compromising what should be a fair
market, " Peters said.
" We know unfair trade practices
from foreign competitors have
completely destroyed the ability for
cherry farmers to do business, " said
Nels Veliquette CFO and VP of
Cherry Ke Inc. and Cherries R Us
Inc. " I appreciate Senators Peters
and Stabenow for keeping up the
pressure on the ITC. This is data that
should have already been collected,
and I'm glad that the ITC will be
receiving a more complete picture on
just how much the trade imbalance
has hurt Michigan's farmers. "
Clemson's Gasic gets
Godley-Snell Award
For her work leading a team of
scientists focusing on developing
high-quality, disease-resistant
peach varieties, Clemson University
associate professor Ksenija Gasic
was awarded the 2020 Godley-Snell
Award for Excellence in Agricultural
Research.
Gasic, who works in the plant and
environmental sciences department
in the College of Agriculture,
Forestry and Life Science, develops
new stone fruit cultivars with
superior product quality and disease
resistance. Her work focuses on
varieties suited to southeastern U.S.
growing conditions.
Chalmers Carr, president and
CEO of Titan Farms in Ridge Spring,
the state's largest peach producer,
said, " Dr. Gasic's leadership as a
geneticist has revitalized the South
Carolina peach industry, and her
work in developing and applying
modern DNA tests and breeding
methods in rosaceous crops will
sustain the industry in this region for
generations to come. "
Gasic also supports the future of
fruit crop production by mentoring
and advising high school students,
undergraduates, graduate students,
visiting scientists and post-doctoral
research associates, which includes
advising 24 undergraduate and nine
graduate students.
Safety first for growers
of berries in California
A new video produced by the
California Strawberry Commission
(CSC) highlights how strawberry
farmers, in the midst of peak
harvest season and during a global
pandemic, are implementing safety
practices in the fields to keep their
employees healthy.
The CSC video demonstrates
how strawberry growers have put
into practice the recommended
coronavirus/COVID-19 safety
practices from the Centers for
Disease Control, and state and local
governments.
" Strawberry farmers have long
been at the forefront of food
and worker safety and education
programs, " said Carolyn O'Donnell,
communications director for the
commission.
Food safety has also been a longterm
focus of the commission, and
the video features how strawberries
are safely picked because they
are field-packed, going from the
strawberry plant, to the clamshell
package, to consumers, while only
being touched once.
VGN | JULY 2020 | 23
http://www.freshed
July 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2020
