Marketing

High-quality Yakima Valley apples created their own market. In the early days most apples were shipped to the Midwest- chiefly Minneapolis, Chicago, and Omaha. Marketing was done by produce brokers, who bought the fruit from the growers in a private cash sale. The produce brokers, in turn, sold the fruit to wholesalers in major marketing cities. When the apples arrived in these cities, the wholesalers placed them on the auction block in the produce market.

The Yakima Horticultural Union was founded in 1902, and the Yakima Fruit Growers Association in 1910. Throughout the Apple Industry, orchardists were forming alliances, hoping to gain control of fruit prices. Today there are various organizations supporting fruit growers and promoting their products. The Washington Apple Commission promotes apples in markets worldwide; its annual budget is close to twenty-five million dollars.