Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/386317
"W e're cherry growers who also grow apples." That was Chris Alpers "apologizing" to visitors at his family's Red Path Orchards and Alpers Farms. His guests were members of the Michigan Pomesters, an organization dominated by apple growers from Fruit Ridge, the area just north of Grand Rapids where nearly half of the state's apple crop is grown. Alpers conceded he was a minor-league player talking to big-league pros, but he didn't have anything to be ashamed of. His block of fourth-leaf, high-density Gale Gala looked healthy and productive. Well, the rows were a little too far apart to suit the critics. The Pomesters visited Red Path as part of their third annual Ridgefest, but this was the fi rst time they left Fruit Ridge to visit a different growing area. Red Path is at Leland on Lake Leelanau, 20 miles north of Traverse City and about 150 miles north of the Ridge. The area is known for producing half of the country's red tart cher- ries. They also visited Cherry Bay, the state's largest cherry farm with 2,700 acres of cherries and 300 acres of pome fruit. There, they got a similar "apology" from Don Greg- ory, one of the owners, who agreed their venture into apples was still a learning experience. "We grow apples where we can't grow cherries," Gregory said. Cherries get the best sites. Red Path Orchards and Alpers Farms—two separate entities—have 920 acres of tart and sweet cherries and apples. Chris Alpers and his father, David, manage Red Path Orchards and Alpers Farms. Besides growing fruit, they operate a receiving station for Gray and Company that takes in sweet cherries for brining from other grow- ers. They also act as a hub receiving station for apples destined for BelleHarvest Sales. In addition, they're members of Cherry Growers, Inc., and investor members in Cherry Growers LLC. Standing in the orchard and working from notes he'd obviously put effort into preparing, Chris Alpers outlined the reasons cherry farmers in northwest Michigan are growing more apples and trying to do it better. First off, he said, it's 200 miles from his Leelanau County farm north of Traverse City to Belding, where BelleHarvest is located, so that increases transportation costs. But still, the incentive is there to grow modern vari- eties for fresh market, and they grow Honeycrisp, Gala, early Fuji, and Zestar. "If we're going to grow apples, we have to grow nice apples," Alpers said. In years past, cherry growers planted their poorest sites to apples, and, because of their location away from the heart of fresh apple country, they grew apples for processing. The Alpers have Red Delicious, Empire, Gin- ger Gold, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, McIntosh, Rome, Idared, and Earligold, some of which go fresh, though many go into processing. Alpers is still interested in apples for processing, especially because of a new applesauce-in-a-tube called GoGoSqueez, in which he is involved as a mem- ber of Cherry Growers LLC, which packs the product. GoGoSqueez is the U.S-named version of Pom'Potes, the applesauce made by the French company Materne since 1998. (To see how GoGoSqueeze is being marketed, visit http://bit.ly/1kN6f2h.) While Alpers is an avid fan of GoGoSqueez, he's shifting production toward fresh varieties. Northwest Michigan has a shorter growing season than does the Ridge, Alpers said, and that hurts two ways. "Fruit Ridge is seven to ten days ahead of us," he said. "We can grow great Ginger Golds, but it's an early, short-season apple and we miss the high prices at the front end." On the other end, "We can't grow Braeburn or full-sea- son Fuji," he said. "We try, but the season is too short." Another problem is labor. "Seasonal workers have 16 OCTOBER 2014 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com I n the fall of 2012, the folks at Cherry Bay Orchards were harvesting a decent crop of apples in a state that had lost 90 percent of its apples to spring freezes. Growers in Leelanau County, Michigan, were among the fortunate few. But then, the ice came. Not frozen water— ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforce- ment people from Homeland Security. First they wanted to see "some" I-9 forms, Don Gregory said. He's one of the owners, with his brother Bob, of the 3,000-acre fruit opera- tion dominated by tart cherries. Then they wanted to see all the I-9 records for three years and interview every member of the management team. The winter of 2012-13 was horrible, Gregory said, and costly. He fi gures he spent $10,000 answering all the questions. "We decided, we can't do this again." That was the beginning of their shift to H-2A guest-worker labor. It didn't start well. Twenty-four workers who said on their applications that they were experienced showed up in late August 2013. Their fi rst task was to pick SweeTango, the early, premium apple. "In reality, they'd never picked an apple in their lives," Gregory said. Mark Miezio, Francis Otto, and Al Bakker, three of the orchard managers at Cherry Bay, picked up telling the story as visitors from Michigan Pomesters looked over their 15-acre block of high-density trellised Jonagold apples planted in 2010 and 2014. "We had to train them on our best apples," Otto said about the H-2A workers. "The Swee- Tango packed out terribly. We could have made more on processing apples." They moved into picking Honeycrisp, including stem clipping, and on from there. On the plus side, the managers said, the workers learned fast and didn't have any bad habits from previous picking jobs, and these workers, from Mexico, were hard workers. "In the end, we got all of our apples harvested," Miezio said. "The workers are trained now, and we've requested that 19 of the 24 come back this year. And this year, we want 35 guest workers." Part of the downside of H-2A is the require- ment that the employer must pay a wage well in excess of the minimum wage, guarantee at least 30 hours of pay a week for the contract period, and pay all the workers on the farm the same high rate of pay—$11.15 an hour in 2013 and $11.49 an hour in 2014. The farm must also hire any "qualified" domestic workers who apply. To qualify, workers needed three months of previous apple picking experience. The wage attracted 40 local applicants, 39 of 50 miles Grand Rapids Lansing Traverse City Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center Belding Cherry growing region Lake Leelanau N MICHIGAN Sparta Fruit Ridge 37 Apples Apples in cherry land Northwest Michigan cherry growers are planting more fresh market apples. by Richard Lehnert Chris Alpers fi nds that this yard sign, telling all that the farm does things right, makes neighbors more tolerant of farm practices, like spraying late at night. PHOTOS BY RICHARD LEHNERT WHY GROWERS love—and hate—H-2A Francis Otto, an orchard manager at Cherry Bay, explains why the farm uses the H-2A program, despite its problems.