- 2 - 



$1,000 Salary of Publicity Director 

 500 Publicity Director's expenses 

 1,000 Fall picnic for food editors, travel 

 editors, etc. 

 500 Buy apples for distribution to editors, 



etc. 

 500 Brochures and similar material 



Parker revealed that the press party is held in the area about Sep- 

 tember 15. They invite all food editors of newspapers in southern Cali- 

 fornia, travel editors, etc., and the extension personnel from the Univer- 

 sity of California involved in home economics. In other words, any person 

 or editor involved in promoting food and travel. 



Parker stated they really have no organization. It is kind of a loose 

 association. In the past 17 years the fruit growers in the Oak Glen area 

 have agreed on only four things: (1) a need for advertising for their 

 area; (2) no signs to be erected in the area except on each individual's 

 property (They do not desire to mar the scenic beauty of the area with 

 many roadside signs.); (3) an agreement to pay l^^^ per box assessment per 

 year for Association fees; and (M-) to bring in no outside apples for local 

 marketing. He indicated that growers have never been able to agree upon 

 prices and quality to be offered at their local markets. 



Grower Experience with "Pick-Your-Own" 



"An interesting feature of the conference was a discussion of pick- 

 your-own direct selling. Robert MacQueen of Holland, Ohio, markets both 

 apples and peaches by this method. He harvests 20 acres of peaches uti- 

 lizing three men (one foreman and two men) and pick-your-own customers. 

 Variety selection is very important for successful pick-your-own peach mar- 

 keting. For example, he raises Early Red Fre , an early poor quality peach 

 not adapted to pick-your-own marketing. It is not a canning variety and 

 doesn't hold up very well. Consequently he begins his pick-your-own mar- 

 keting with Redhaven. It takes two to three days for his customers to 

 pick 2 50 Redhaven trees. He closes his orchard after each variety is picked 

 and waits for the next variety to get ripe. He wants each variety to be 

 fully ripe before opening the orchard to pick-your-own customers for that 

 variety. 



MacQueen has been charging the same price for his peaches each year 

 since he started pick-your-own marketing ($2.75 per bushel). All he pro- 

 vides the customer is a ladder. If they desire, they can purchase baskets. 

 He does not permit pick-your-own customers in the orchard for less than 

 one bushel of fruit. If they desire less than one bushel, they can purchase 

 it at his local sales shed. He advised having only one way into the orchard 

 and only one way out. 



MacQueen stressed pruning out trees and proper fruit thinning. He 

 desires large perfect peaches and has had very favorable customer reaction. 

 Customers use this opportunity for family events such as picnics, etc. 

 plus the opportunity to obtain tree-ripe peaches. He gives his customers 

 a sheet of instructions covering his pick-your-own policy, etc. Likewise 

 he carries $200,000 liability insurance. 



