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Scott Smith checks his Jazz apples on the last day of harvest in early November. Smith & Nelson was incorporated in 1928. ���Doc��� Nelson, a veterinarian, was a part-time orchardist but, more importantly, probably one of the few people in town who had two dollars in his pocket to invest, Smith said. Harold���s son Monte (Scott���s father) joined the business, as did Scott after graduating from Washington State University in 1972 with a bachelor���s degree in business administration and agricultural economics. Scott started out in sales, but when his father retired in 1992, he saw a need to have someone else handle the sales so he could run the company. Retailers were consolidating, and a small company like Smith & Nelson could not take care of the year-round needs of the large supermarkets. NuChief Sales in Wenatchee took over the sales, and continues to represent the company today. photos by geraldine warner Club varieties www.goodfruit.com In the late 1990s, recognizing that standard apples, such as Red Delicious, were becoming commodities and that margins were too thin to make a profit growing them in small volumes, Smith became interested in the emerging club varieties. In 2001, he and Blair Losvar, a grower and partner in nearby Loomis, took a trip to New Zealand to look at the new apple varieties developed by ENZA. They became part of a limited group of growers in Washington State franchised by ENZA to produce Pacific Rose and Jazz. The fruit is marketed by the Oppenheimer Group (now known as Oppy) and Rainier Fruit Company in Yakima. Pacific Rose turned out to be a good variety for export to Asia because of its attractive red color and sweet flavor. It���s taken some time to establish Jazz in the U.S. marketplace, but Smith said it���s reached the point where he should be able to reap the rewards from the effort and investment that have gone into the plantings. ���Now, Jazz are being pulled through the marketplace because of their desirability. That���s really the key to a new variety���for the consumer to be able to pick up that fruit and find it consistent every time, and find value in terms of taste and flavor,��� he said. ���It was a learning process and we���re still going through that,��� he added. ���One of the challenges���and the key to success���for any new variety is marketing. If you���re going to start a new variety, you���re going to have to put money up-front to be successful. There���s no other way.��� ffordable A t Alarms Fros Risky Smith, a member of the advisory committee for Washington State University���s apple breeding program, said there���s debate in the industry about how to make new varieties that come out of the program available to all Washington growers GOOD FRUIT GROWER JANUARY 1, 2013 13