CIAB chair faces unhappy growers

No sour cherries were tossed at Cherry Industry Administrative Board (CIAB) chair Curtis Rowley as he faced a room of unhappy growers, many of whom had gone seasons without a profitable crop.

In fact, he left the presentation with a round of applause as growers came to better understand underlying problems facing the industry and how CIAB is working to address them. Rowley spoke last month prior to the Cherry Marketing Institute luncheon at the Northwest Michigan Orchard and Vineyard Show at the Grand Traverse Resort.

“Good, bad or indifferent, we’re at a point as an industry asking what is the best way to move forward,” said Rowley, whose family’s irrigated orchards are located 20 miles south of Provo, Utah.