Montana’s cherry growers have voted to eliminate the Montana Cherry Research and Market Development Program. The cooperative is moving towards more self-direction and fully expects to save money and simplify the R&D process.
The original system, set up in 2005, determined that if a grower located within two miles of Flathead Lake sold more than 200 pounds of cherries, they had to return a half-cent per pound to the state Department of Agriculture to pay for research and market development.
Bruce Johnson, president of the Flathead Lake Cherry Growers cooperative: “For the Flathead Lake Cherry Growers, who send some 2 million pounds of cherries to processing, that essentially came to 10,000 dollars.”
When the R&D committee formed in 2005, its main purpose was to set up a fruit-fly management system to help educate cherry growers. Eventually, though, the five-person committee overseeing the funds began allocating money to various other projects. Many were worthwhile, Johnson told flatheadbeacon.com, but in those cases the fruit-fly problem shifted to the backburner.
The committee’s work is still necessary, but the co-op now will just fund it directly.
