New Tree Fruit Web Site And Newsletter Launched
November 3, 2015 
Desmond Layne
Washington State University has launched a new tree fruit website and the first issue of a related newsletter, “Fruit Matters.
These two resources will provide tree fruit growers with up-to-date, relevant, unbiased, research-based information that will be helpful to further their education and as an aid in decision-making.
Developed by a team of WSU tree fruit research and Extension faculty, including myself, staff and web developers from the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences (CAHNRS) and with input from tree fruit industry representatives, the website has been designed to ensure that the content organization, ease of site navigation, and availability of suitable search features are in place to best address industry needs. Further, it was designed to help visitors get to the information they were seeking as quickly and easily as possible.
The long-term and ongoing effort to create, maintain and update these on-line resources would not be possible without the additional investment and support from the Washington tree fruit industry and for this WSU is very grateful. I wrote about the long-term, Washington tree fruit grower-funded investment to WSU in my March 2014
Here is a screen capture of inaugural issue of “Fruit Matters” tree fruit newsletter. Photo credit: Des Layne)
For first-time visitors, we have an introductory section dedicated to explaining how to use the website. In brief, the main content topical navigation is found at the left sidebar on the home page. Major headings beginning with “About” and ending with “Tools and Resources” direct visitors to relevant sub-topics so that they can drill down deeper into more specific content.
Within the various main content sections, a general overview provides context for the more specific information that follows. Where available, specific content is broken out by the major crops represented, such as apple, pear and sweet cherry.
Three Types Of Content
Also on the home page, three different types of web content are presented to direct site viewers to the latest educational videos, on-line publications and relevant industry news. The site currently has more than 20 educational videos ranging from expert presentations on photo-selective, anti-hail nets to how-to videos on pruning Bartlett pears and many more in between. The latter video, featuring Dr. Stefano Musacchi, WSU Endowed Chair – Tree Fruit Physiology and Management, already has more than 5,000 views. The publications section links to the latest peer-reviewed, on-line, tree fruit research and Extension resources that are relevant for growers in the Pacific Northwest.
As industry-relevant news stories are published from the university, government or in the popular press, they are added to our news section. Also, on the home page, we have links to decision-support tools provided through WSU-DAS (Decision Aid System) and the AgWeatherNet. There is also a calendar of upcoming events.
One powerful feature of the site is a prominent, built-in-Google search that filters search results by five different categories (appearing as “tabs”) in the search results page. These tabs relate to search-filtered content identified as follows:
- WSU – created and housed on WSU sites
- Other universities – created and housed at non-WSU university sites
- Trade articles – stories from national tree fruit magazines
- WTFRC reports – research reports from projects funded by the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission
- Technical articles – links to on-line scientific journals.
In addition to continually updating and adding new content, we plan to add image galleries and diagnostic tools for identifying major insect pests, diseases, and disorders.
We have created the inaugural issue of a regular “Fruit Matters” newsletter that will highlight news, feature new resources, spotlight on new research, and point readers to the latest videos, publications and upcoming events of interest. The newsletter will be published a few times per year. It is designed to have a similar look and feel to the website.
The website visitor can see the current and archival copies of the newsletter at the newsletter link (noted above). However, readers can also subscribe to receive the newsletter automatically via email. To ensure that you are added to the e-mail list, please select one of the tick boxes related to “tree fruit production.”
Finally, we welcome helpful input on either the tree fruit web site or the Fruit Matters newsletter. You can provide your feedback to us by either using our “Contact Us” link or you can send an email.
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