Tree fruit producers meet in Royal City

Workshop covers incentive payments beginning in 2008

ROYAL CITY — Tree fruit producers around the region are getting the opportunity to learn about financial assistance opportunities available to them.

Washington State University's Grant/Adams County Extension is holding workshops for tree fruit producers to learn about new incentive payments starting in 2008. The workshops are to help producers determine their eligibility and how to outline a competitive application.

Orchardists will be eligible for cost share funds for integrated pest management and other resource-conserving practices on their farm. Funding is through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program offered by the Natural Resources Conservation Services.

"Tree fruit growers are in the position of needing to transition to advanced integrated pest management," explained program coordinator Nana Simone. "We're going to be getting some of our more important insecticides phased out, so really, this federal program is the only place I know of where growers have the opportunity to get financial assistance in making this transition."

The EQIP program was first initiated with the 1997 Farm Bill, re-authorized in 2002 and will mostly likely be re-authorized again, Simone said. Since 2002, it has begun to serve more specialty crop growers.

"In tree fruit, generally the majority of the financial assistance has gone toward upgrading irrigation systems," Simone said. "One of the important natural resource and environmental concerns orchardists face is the use of pesticides, and so the program is shifting in our state to provide more assistance in that area."

The program is fairly complex, with many kinds of conservation practices a person could do on his or her farm, such as irrigation water management, nutrient management and wildlife habitat enhancement or management. Simone believes growers will come out of the workshop understanding the complexity of the program, and knowing how to put together a competitive application.

If a grower is qualified to make irrigation conversions, ready to transition to organic production or in a situation where they would like to use more reduced-risk pest management methods, such as mating disruption for codling moth, Simone urges them to attend.

"The intention of the program is to assist growers who aren't already doing all these things, but want to," she said.

Incentive payments don't cover 100 percent of the costs, Simone said, and the 2008 assistance is still being worked out, but for 2007, there was up to $200 per acre available for advanced pest management, with a cap of $24,000 per contract.

"We imagine it will be something which could be worthwhile for a lot of growers," Simone said of the 2008 funding. "Certainly it's not a one size fits all kind of program."

The Royal City workshop takes place Thursday from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Royal High School, located at 911 Ahlers Road. At the workshop, Simone co-presents with a Natural Resources Conservation Services conservationist from Grant County.

A workshop is scheduled for tonight in Tonasket.

Other workshops take place in Yakima Monday, Prosser July 17 and Wenatchee July 19. All meetings take place at the same time.

Simone acknowledges it's a busy time of year for growers, but the reason the workshops are being held now is the final deadline for the 2008 application is probably going to be Nov. 16.

"Between now and the end of October, the work scenario for orchardists just generally gets worse, with all the different harvests coming on," she said.

For more information or to RSVP, visit www.treefruitresearch.com/eqip-program-information/ or contact Simone at 509-667-9557 or e-mail nanas@nwi.net.