Apple growers and packers are fighting a backlash from news reports this week that accused them of dumping millions of dollars worth of fruit just because they couldn’t sell all of it overseas due to the port slowdown over the winter.
That’s not true, said Jon DeVaney, president of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, the Yakima-based trade group that represents fruit packers.
“Putting a dollar value on what is dumped is nigh impossible,” DeVaney said.
Still, trade groups that represent the state’s apple industry, the largest in the nation, received a host of emails and other comments Friday decrying the waste and greed of the state’s farmers, demanding they start donating to food banks.
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