We don't own any processing plants. Our members decide what they're going to do with their cherries and whom they're going to sell to. They hire their own sales staff licensed by CherrCo. We concentrate on ensuring we can maintain a price for our members. Even though the issue of price is taken out of the marketing equation, CherrCo members find other avenues on which to compete against each other.
Some members offer a mix of tart cherry and other farm-grown produce.
Others specialize in just frozen or hot-packed tart cherries. Still others try to differentiate them-selves from CherrCo competitors by building on their reputations in the industry, product quality, processing plant standards and capabilities, and any other special services they may develop to attract customers. CherrCo would like to increase exports and fine-tune supply management mechanisms. But I think what we didn't realize, when putting this together, is a third thing that would happen. We're facilitating better discussions, better communication, throughout our industry.