Big Apples, Big Business: How Washington Became the Apple State
UWFA Lecture Series with guest speaker Professor Amanda Van Lanen
Wednesday, February 11, 1 – 3 p.m.
Via Zoom
We hope you’ll join us on February 11 for this interesting lecture about the apple industry in our state. Watch for a Zoom invitation on Monday, February 9, from our UWFA President, Christine Newcomb.
Why do so many apples in the grocery store look the same? And why do so many come from Washington?
In this talk, Amanda Van Lanen explores how Washington became the top apple producing state in the country, and how, in the process, it transformed apples into an industrialized commodity. Many regions in the West attempted to grow apples, but in Washington, big apples became big business thanks to the work of:
- Scientists
- Investors
- Irrigators
- Railroad corporations
- Marketers
- Apple growers
How does the history of Washington apples reflect larger changes happening in the American food system—changes that continue to affect our environment and the way we eat today?
Amanda L. Van Lanen is a Professor of History at Lewis-Clark State College and the author of The Washington Apple: Orchards and the Development of Industrial Agriculture. She earned a Ph.D. in history at Washington State University, and blogs about food history at historyreheated.com. Van Lanen lives in Asotin, Washington.