Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/34757
Honeycrisp availability in stores at this time of year has been limited because of two factors, according to Solberg. First, demand has exceeded supply, so most Honeycrisp are sold between late August, when they start to ripen, and December. Controlled atmosphere storage protocols to extend the storage season are still being developed, so only a few stored Honeycrisp have been available in Janu- ary and February. Then there are no more Honeycrisp until late August. Honeycrisp became available for planting by any grower in the United States in 1991. Wescott Agri Products bought exclusive production and com- mercialization rights for Honeycrisp in Chile from the University of Minnesota. “The development of the Chilean Honeycrisp is part of Honeybear Brands’s goal of growing, packaging, and market- ing world-class varieties from the finest agricultural regions across the globe, enabling it to offer its retail partners a year-round apple program in their marketplace,” Wescott said. Solberg said the company works closely with the retailers it serves, but there were no plans to make a big promo- tion with these first Honeycrisp from Chile. There will be too few of them this year, he said. Local retailers may, of course, decide to use their supplies to attract customers to their stores to buy these out-of-the-ordinary-season apples. SweeTango The Wescott organization is one of the litigants suing the University of Minnesota and Pepin Heights Orchards over the exclusive growing and marketing arrange- ment they developed around the SweeT- ango apple. Court-ordered mediation failed in March, and the case will come to court this fall. Wescott would have liked to add this apple to his distribution network. SweeTango will be marketed as a club variety by Next Big Thing, a cooperative with 64 grower members across North America. Wescott Agri Products is privately held. It began as Wescott Orchards in the early 1970s and expanded and diversified in fruit production, packing, processing, and distribution. The company created the Mississippi Valley Fruit Company, through which 30 growers in southwest Minnesota, west central Wisconsin, and northwest Iowa sell regionally produced fruit under that label. Wescott is an avid promoter of the Upper Mississippi area as a unique pro- duction region, with growers there able to produce high-quality apples using well- adapted University of Minnesota- developed varieties like Honeycrisp, Zestar!, Haralson, and Regent. But the region is limited in its output potential. While distributing this regional apple crop to markets in the Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin, the company also developed international relationships to serve those clients year- round with fruit from the Southern Hemi- sphere—Chile and New Zealand. It also created Honeycrisp Marketing and the www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER JUNE 2011 21 Honeybear brand to sell that Honeycrisp to super - markets nationally. “In addition to the Chilean program, Wescott dedicates significant acreage to growing Honey- crisp in the Midwest and Washington,” according to Don Roper, vice president of sales and marketing for Wescott. “The “If overproduction reduces the prices, we’ll quit growing Honeycrisp.” —Fred Wescott company was one of the first growers of Honeycrisp in Washington, and today Honeybear is recognized as the premier Honeycrisp label in the Northwest.” Roper credited Fred Wescott with seeing, early on, the huge potential of Honeycrisp. Honeybear Brands also works with Washington growers Crane & Crane, Smith & Nelson, and Shou Shia Wang. •