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Stephen Dunphy / Times staff columnist
The Newsletter: Reporting from Ellensburg...

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Meseck spoke yesterday at an annual conference on the Central Washington economy at Central Washington University, Ellensburg.

In the Chelan-Douglas County area, dominated by Wenatchee, job growth turned negative in the past few months, with weakness in warehousing and trucking. A good cherry crop helped boost the economy in the early summer, but a smaller apple crop has cut growth. There is some "saturation" in the retail area as well after a burst of growth last year.

The Alcoa plant remains closed, but the sale by the aluminum company of now unneeded power continues to bring in funds. Some of that goes to workers, helping to keep payroll dollars flowing.

One sign of the times. Home Depot is opening in the Wenatchee area, probably by Thanksgiving. It began taking applications for the 80 or so jobs to be created locally. To date, about 900 people have applied.

Yakima benefits from a diverse economy plus some smaller but consistent manufacturing gains. Things should pick up early next year when a distribution center for Wal-Mart is completed. The center and its 400-to-600 jobs should be in operation in early spring.

\ Central Washington University has become an economic engine in Ellensburg. Outside of agriculture, it is one of the largest employers. Half a dozen construction projects are under way on the school's classic tree-lined campus.

Enrollment is rising. Central welcomed its second-largest incoming class ever this year, with 1,336 freshmen now studying on the Ellensburg campus. A total 9,465 students attend Central, up 697 from the same time last year and 1,415 from the 2000-01 academic year.

This is apple country, with the roads lined with fruit stands offering produce direct from the orchard.

Overall, apple production is expected to be 4.8 billion pounds this year, 7 percent below last year and the lowest production since 1992's 4.65 billion pounds. Even so, Washington will account for 51 percent of U. S. production, compared with 60 percent in 2002 and 54 percent in 2001.

Desmond O'Rourke, a retired Washington State University economist, said apple growers this year should do as well financially as last year. But the rest of the country had a record production year — twice what the crop was last year — which will hold prices steady, O'Rourke said.

Big changes are coming to the region's key farming sector, O'Rourke told the conference. And it is not just the usual year-to-year vagaries of the weather.

One shift is to increasingly larger farms able to deal directly with the Wal-Marts and Costcos of the world. The big retailers want to simplify supply chains and are moving to single suppliers.

One example of the shift? O'Rourke said there are perhaps 1,000 farms in the state now that he would characterize as "super farms." These are huge organizations with as many as 10,000 acres for field crops. The super farms are only 3 percent of all farms in the state, O'Rourke said, but control about 70 percent of production.

Stephen H. Dunphy's columns appear Tuesdays-Fridays and Sundays. Phone: 206-464-2365. Fax: 206-382-8879. E-mail: sdunphy@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists

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