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THE GREAT ALAR APPLE SCARE, in retrospect N technology. Between them, they have developed an outstanding food safety and traceability program. Emphasis on fresh In looking at the niche filled by Rice Fruit Company, it must be remembered that more than half the apples grown in Pennsylvania are grown for processing, and until recently that fraction was nearly three-fourths. The strategy of Rice Fruit Company and Arthur Rice, back in 1913, was to pack and ship fresh apples. "My grandfather started the packing company in 1913 as a way of marketing fresh apples from Adams County in New York City and overseas," John said. "Initially, most of the apples were York Imperial, which kept exceedingly well and were very firm and hard to bruise. They had a unique characteristic in that they could go through a freeze and still be firm and salable. That often happened as apples waited on the docks in New York City. They were packed in 100-pound barrels. "The main drawbacks of the York were that it was lopsided, rough-skinned, and not very deep red." The rise of the Red Delicious variety didn't particularly favor eastern growers. It was red, and it was typey, and eastern growers concede it often looks better when it is grown in the West, Rice said. (They think the eastern version tastes better, however.) The arrival of bicolored apples ultimately helped east- ern growers, Rice believes. Varieties like Gala, Fuji, and Honeycrisp were able to win customers even though they were not particularly red, but they had better flavor. "Our growers gravitated to these new varieties," Rice said. Secondly, there has been a new emphasis on "locally grown." For millions of consumers in New York City, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, Adams County is essentially local, Rice said. "We are about the closest apple-growing region, and retailers now put more emphasis on local produce. "This is really driving the growth of a company like ours. We've had to expand accordingly." Winning with growers Some of the newer varieties, like Honeycrisp espe- cially, have made packing more of a challenge. The com- ing of the brown marmorated stinkbug in 2010 complicated things even more. Both create quality issues that packers are called on to work around and through. "We're the biggest packer," Rice said, "but we're not the only packer. We have to deliver for our growers. They don't have to sell their apples through us." In working with growers, Rice Fruit stores, packs, and sells for them, and their returns are based on both fruit www.goodfruit.com quality and Rice Fruit's packing and mar- keting abilities. Last year, the company installed new defect sorters that can pick up the spots caused by the stinkbug plus apple scab and bitter pit. The company has presorted by size, and is now presort- ing to remove apples with spots as well. Apples that won't make the fresh pack are moved down the street to Knouse Foods. Both internal and external defect sorting occurs on the final packing line as well. Rice Fruit is a long-time member of the Knouse Foods John Rice is head of sales for Rice Fruit Co. and the most well known of the brothers in fruit industry marketing and policy circles. ext month, it'll be 23 years since the Alar scare, and opinion remains divided about the con- troversy that cost apple growers an estimated $400 million. Spend some time on the Internet Googling the subject and you'll find two points of view. One held by many, especially growers, is that an environmental activist organization, the Natural Resources Defense Council, backed by Fenton Communications, a public relations firm, enticed CBS's 60 Minutes into bushwhacking the apple industry. Using a scientific study of dubious value and twisting the data, it created mass hysteria as peo- ple became convinced there was large and imminent dan- ger. The American Council on Science and Health calls the Alar incident "an environ- mental health canard" and led the charge to discredit CBS's reporting and the environmental group's self- aggrandizement. The other maintains that it was the apple industry that undermined the environ- mental group and CBS in 1989, burying the scientific facts about the dangers of Alar and itself creating white- wash in mounting a sophisti- cated counterattack. Across the country, 13 states passed food anti disparagement laws, mak- ing it a crime to speak ill of perishable food products with less than scien- tific certainty—raising free speech issues and having "a clear chilling effect on anyone who wishes to speak out about food" in the words of one writer. The apple growers in Washington Cooperative, and three of its plants are less than five miles away. Knouse Foods takes most of the Rice Fruit sort-outs for juice or peelers. Tapping into the Latin American fruit market has helped sales of older varieties, like Red Delicious and Golden Delicious, and also smaller apples, Rice said. The eastern cities get the bigger apples and the newest vari- eties that command the best prices. "I've spent some time speculating why we were selected for this award," John said of the Good Fruit Grower of the Year. "We are relatively well known, I think, because we spend so much time visiting with people from across the country. We have an open-door policy and share ideas. It's a good policy because we learn so much as well." • GOOD FRUIT GROWER JANUARY 1, 2012 11 State sued CBS, NRDC, and Fenton Communications for product defamation, seeking $250 million in damages. That case was dismissed, but it helped make their point. Alar was withdrawn from the mar- ket by the manufacturer, even as gov- ernment agencies disagreed about the need to ban Alar. —R. Lehnert