Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/52389
It took some land leveling to make a place for the Apple Wedge packing house. FRUIT GROWERS feel less pressure L ast June, the commissioners of Henderson County, North Car- olina, hired Mark Williams as the county's first agribusiness development executive director. While not actively farming (the family farm is currently leased out), Williams is a seventh-generation owner of a Henderson County apple farm. Not surprisingly, one of the many items on his agenda is to bolster the apple industry in the county. Henderson County has about 150 apple growers "Obviously, growers can get better prices for fresh market fruit," who produce more than 85 percent of North Car- olina's apple crop, which ranks seventh in the nation in size and amounts to up to 8 million bushels a year. The county seat, Hendersonville, hosts the state's annual apple festival, during Labor Day weekend, which attracts 200,000 people. This was its sixty-fifth year. The county had, until about 20 years ago, several fruit-process- "It's good to have a backup Williams said, "but given our weather conditions, it's good to have a backup plan. The chances of a big processor locating here are not very good, but anything that provides a relief valve would be welcome." North Carolina is about the southernmost plan." —Mark Williams ing companies that made applesauce or juice, and Williams would like to see some processor—large or small—set up shop in the county. Since then, growers have geared up to sell more of their apples fresh, but still more than half go to processing, and these need to be shipped north to Knouse Foods plants in Pennsylvania or west to Gerber's plant in Fort Smith, Arkansas—both a long way off. limit for apple production in the United States, and it relies on its 2,000-foot-plus elevation provided by the Appalachian Mountains to make it an excellent fruit production region. Rainfall is usually abundant (40-plus inches), and fruit sizes and colors well. Winters are mild. Spring frosts can be a problem, but air drainage on most apple sites is excellent. Fire- blight and apple scab, and summer diseases like fly speck and sooty blotch, are constant threats in the hot, humid environment. Until the housing bubble burst three years ago, the apple orchards of Henderson County were being sold at good prices as "view sites" for homebuilders and appealed to retirees coming in from states all over the country, Williams said. "We're seeing fewer pressures from residential development now. We're taking advan- tage of the reprieve to develop agriculture. If agriculture is profitable, people will want to stay in farming." —R. Lehnert Greg is now 51, and, since 1997, he and his wife, Lisa, have been sole owners. Greg and his uncle split the operation—in a friendly way, he said—and went their own ways. The Nixes have two young adult children, Katie and Christin, who work on the farm when not in college and high school, and they also employ a nephew Steven Godfrey, 26, as their orchard manager. Greg concentrates on marketing. "I take care of all the sales myself," he said. Steven manages the orchards, and another employee manages the packing house. The farm, which had about 2,000 apple trees on 30 acres when Greg began, now has about 45,000 trees on 150 acres. The transition to fresh market entailed both a change in varieties and a change in the way lower quality fruit was handled. Greg developed markets with Walmart, Food Lion, and Ingles—important supermarket chains in the Southeast—and also with school systems and the military. As local processors closed their doors and growers had "A lot of buildings in Henderson County sit on Apple to ship processing quality apples several hundred miles, Nix took a different tack. In 1995, he and his uncle formed Apple Wedge Cider, which now produces more than 100,000 gallons of cider every year. Greg sells the juice, made with a continuous-feed belt press and flash pasteur- ized, to his wholesale fresh apple customers, as well as to local markets. They press cider, using a three-variety blend, from August until mid-March. The Nixes tried some direct marketing, but Greg much prefers the whole- Hill soil." —Greg Nix sale business. They have drawn away from marketing on the farm and from some of the entertainment ventures, like orchard and packing house tours, that they were trying. They do sell some fruit at the farm, including peaches. They planted 10 acres and 11 varieties of white and yellow freestone varieties as a new venture, and they are available from about July 20 to Labor Day. Most peaches are also sold wholesale. Different apple orchards reflect the farm's evolution. Already in 1986, Nix was planting Golden Delicious on Mark rootstock at a 6- by 14-foot planting. Very productive still, that orchard has averaged more than a thousand bushels per acre over the last few years. More recent plantings include Autumn Rose Fuji on Malling 9, and Pink Lady on Budagovsky 9. "Greg is a very progressive grower and is always looking to the future," said Marvin Owings, the extension director in Henderson County. "This past win- ter, Greg and some of his employees attended the International Fruit Tree Association meeting in Washington. After seeing some of the impressive new planting and tree training systems, Greg and his employees decided to put in their own trial back home. He installed six different systems (spindle, V, and Y) using wire support. The variety selected was Ultimate Gala on Bud.9 root- stock with spacing that ranges from 2 by 12 to 6 by 12 [feet]. Greg is always striving to increase production and quality and at the same time cut cost." IFTA members visited the Nix operation in 2008. • A moving plume shows where Greg Nix is spraying apples on a steep hillside across from the Apple Wedge packing house. www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER JANUARY 15, 2012 25 RichaRd LehneRt RichaRd LehneRt