Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/543863
16 AUGUST 2015 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com planting blocks of apples for processing. In fact, he said, "I'm planting all pro- cessing varieties." Knouse Foods is the largest apple processor in the eastern United States, handling about 10 million bushels each year. Ninety-five percent of them are peelers that go for sauce and slices and about 5 percent go for juice, Guise said. "For the apple industry to be healthy, both the fresh and the processing sides must be profitable," he said. "It takes both sides to make a healthy industry, and one forces the other." Sometimes there are disruptions and imbalances. For several years, apple juice concentrate from China and other coun- tries drove down the price of domestic juice apples. "Foreign concentrate was—and is—a disruption," Guise said. But even there, change happens to establish a new balance. There is real growth in apple beer and in apple hard cider, both of which are strengthening the juice apple market, he said, and "squeezer packs" of applesauce in tubes are boosting the market for apple sauce, putting it into the convenience and snack food market. Pennsylvania growers send a high percentage of their apples to process- ing—perhaps 70 percent. That's higher than New York, which is about 60/40, or Michigan, which is about 50/50. Guise said in Pennsylvania, 65 to 70 percent of all the apples grown go to Knouse Foods. On the average, all processing apples in Pennsylvania bring $200 a ton. In Michigan, processors pay more for peeler quality apples, about $250 a ton, but more Michigan apples go to juice at a lower price, he said. What price? Guise says that $200 a ton is sufficient to draw enough apples to the processing side. The best varieties for processing are large apples, Guise said. So while Gala is a good apple for fresh market, the market for small Gala is weak. "We want size," Guise said. "With our automatic peelers doing 100 apples a minute, we would much rather be doing something besides Gala." Small Galas move to the cheaper juice apple market. Varieties that work well as peelers include Crispin (Mutsu), Jonagold, Granny Smith, Idared, York Imperial, and Rome. Honeycrisp apples work because they are large—sometimes too large for fresh sale—and processors don't worry about some of its cosmetic issues. Peeling takes care of surface blemishes like bitter pit and superficial scab. The best varieties for processing are large and bear annually, Guise said. Honeycrisp sometimes doesn't color well—but that's not a problem for processors. Processing often saves blocks of apples that are in trouble for failing to color properly or have issues like apple scab, bitter pit, sunburn, or hail damage. "The cost of growing apples for pro- cessing is significantly less," Guise said. Since color is not an issue, trees need not be pruned as precisely. While they may need to be chemically thinned to achieve size, they probably won't need to be hand thinned. "We can tolerate some bruising, especially fresh bruising," Guise said. So picking can proceed faster and with less delicacy—and certainly without expensive work like stem clipping. Trees cost less, he added. Growers of processing blocks typically have non-pat- ented, non-managed varieties, but new plantings are at the same high densities as fresh varieties. M a i n t e n a n c e c o s t s a r e l e s s . "Processing growers use fewer sprays and somewhat cheaper materials," Guise said. Back in the days before controlled atmosphere storage, apples that matured late and stored well were highly valued, not only for fresh market but for process- ing. "That's less of an issue now that we can keep most any apple for a year," he said. Processing apples a byproduct Drake said very few Michigan apple growers think of themselves as growers of processing apples. "They all consider themselves to be fresh market growers because that is where the higher returns come from." Michigan is said to be the hardest place to grow apples because of the climate and the insect and disease pressures, she said. As a consequence—whether growers like it or not—65 to 70 percent of Michigan's apple crop winds up in the processing market, either going directly to the processor or through fresh packers. Processors generally have a goal of how many apples they want to buy and what products they want to make—and "For the apple industry to be healthy, both the fresh and the processing sides must be profitable." —Ken Guise VINE TECH EQUIPMENT PROSSER, WASHINGTON (509) 788-0900 ERNST TRACTOR ST. 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