Cherries

YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Thanks to a warm spring, the Northwest's cherry season is off to a hot start. The Yakima Herald-Republic reports that a record number of cherries were shipped in May — more than 651,000 20-pound boxes. That's according to the Northwest Cherry Growers, which represents 2,500 growers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Montana...

Caterpillar plans to move 200 engineering jobs from South Milwaukee to Arizona as part of the creation of a central hub for its surface mining and technology offices. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said the move would create more than 600 new jobs in Tucson over the next five years, including positions in executive management, engineering, product development and support positions...

Nearly 400 farm, nutrition and conservation groups have written congressional budget letters urging Senate and House leaders to reject calls for additional cuts to the 2014 Farm Bill. The groups say Congress passed sweeping changes to the nation’s food and farm policy that included significant deficit reduction just over one year ago...

Recent showers have been bad news for some cherry growers in Central Washington. Growers try to prevent wet cherries from splitting due to wet weather by drying them with wind turbines, air sprayers and hiring helicopters to fly over their orchards...