Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/132109
You-pick can be wasteful. "We figure people knock off 30 percent of the apples," he said. That drops his percentage of retail sales from 90 percent to about 60 percent. The dropped apples are picked up and sold in bulk to a nearby cider mill. He figures he gets $44 per bushel for his apples overall, if he includes the reduced price of drops in the figure. In some states, like New York and Michigan, efforts are directed toward encouraging growers to leave dropped apples on the ground—for reasons of food safety and public image. But the Tougases pick up the best drops—not rotten or crushed ones—for the cider mill. "It's a matter of cleanliness as well as cost," Mo said. "We don't want apples on the ground because they draw yellow jackets, flies, and mice. They make a smelly, miserable environment for customers. I also think that when customers see waste, they don't mind adding to it." It takes a small crew four days after a big weekend to pick up drops, but there are probably 900 bushels of them on the ground. Despite the problems of dealing with people, Tougas figures his picking cost for labor is only $1 a bushel. Exact records of production aren't kept, but Tougas figures his apple yields at about 850 bushels per acre. "I figure we sell 60 percent of our fruit you-pick, but we get 90 percent of our dollars there," he said. "The apple drops are a big part of what we sell wholesale. We also pick some apples for sale at the farm market, and sell maybe 3 percent wholesale." The farm market was only added two years ago, as an addition to a kitchen in which they make fruit desserts, light lunches, and ice cream. Other fruit Tougas was not raised on a farm, but got interested in agriculture while in college. He took a master's degree in extension education and worked three years in extension horticulture before buying a farm in 1981. It had been you-pick apples and peaches for 12 years. Apples are the big part of the operation, covering about 25 acres. Tougas Farm also includes six acres of strawberries, nine of blueberries, six of cherries, ten of peaches and nectarines, and 12 of pumpkins—all sold you-pick. "We still haven't figured out how to make money with cherries," Mo said during the pruning tour. His plantings are fairly young and he's working to find a good training system, perhaps Spanish bush or Kym Green bush, to keep trees short for you-pickers and to fit under the netting he installed to ward off birds and, to some extent, rain. He also has 1.5 acres under high tunnels. In the eastern United States, cherries crack in the humid weather. His trees are planted on berms to improve drainage and reduce cracking from excessive water uptake, but other growers are also looking hard at growing cherries under plastic, which sheds water and wards off birds as well. Of his peaches, he says, "You-pick is the worst way in the world to sell peaches," and he is looking to sell more of them ready-picked. Some of his peaches are open-vase, shorter trees, but his newer plantings are Quad V. He has used a Darwin string thinner for five years and thinks it will work better on the more upright trees. He also uses a platform for pruning and to pick fruit that can't be picked from the ground. Our selection really stands out in a crowd ProTree Nurseries has a great selection of the varieties you want. We plant a wide range of trees each year, on only the best rootstocks and graft a long list of different variety/stock combinations. High-quality apple and cherry trees are available, and our trees are grown with the greatest of care. Banning Red Fuji (USPP 16,624 P2) Beni Shogun Rising Sun Fuji® Granny Smith ® (USPP 7526) (USPP 10,115) ® ™ (USPP 7997) Blondee™ (USPP 7197) (USPP applied for) Schlect Spur Delicious™ (USPP 19,007 McLaughlin cv) ™ Brookfield® Gala ™ Fuji (USPP 11,193) (USPP 11,992) ™ (USPP 10,016) Buckeye® Gala (USPP 20,590) ® (USPP 10,840) ® Torres Fuji™ (USPP 12,900) (USPP applied for) Ultima™ Gala (USPP 21,300) ™ Dandee Red® (serial 74/458,730) ® (USPP 16,620) (USPP 13,753 P2) Zestar!™ (USPP 11,367) (USPP 9681) Golden Delicious These apple varieties are available on B-10, B-118, EMLA-7, EMLA-26, EMLA-106, EMLA-111, G-11, G-16, G-30, M-9 337T, NIC®-29, or Supporter 4. ™ ™ ™ ™ Protected farmland ® In the late 1970s, Massachusetts became one of the first states to start a farmland preservation program, and in 1986 the Tougas family decided that was the way to go. They enrolled their then-53-acre farm, selling to the state their right to develop the land for nonagricultural uses. They were paid partially for the development value—the difference between its value for farming and its value for development. "There was a big gap between the two, and the state couldn't pay full value," Tougas said. "For the rest, we got a tax credit for a charitable contribution that reduced the taxes on what they did pay." The deed restriction reduces their land's value to farmland levels, and dictates that the land won't be used any other way. Son Andre recently bought half the farm from his parents, and daughter April works on the farm, so the Tougas Family Farm is on track to stay a family farm. Sale of development rights also helped them afford adjoining land when they bought additional farms in 2001 and 2012, so they have a land base now of 125 acres. "We used the development rights money to pay off debt and to build and replant," Tougas said. "We also began some retirement planning and set some money aside." Mo has a keen interest in the horticultural side of the fruit business, and routinely tries new things, many of them learned on IFTA tours. When he bought the farm, it contained seedling McIntosh and Cortland apples and Golden Jubilee and Elberta peaches. He began his transition to modern varieties and dwarfing rootstocks in 1987. In 1991, he began using Y systems, which have since been retrained to spindle systems with six permanent leaders on each tree. Since 2000, new apple plantings have been in tall spindle and super spindle systems, with row spacings as close as 3 by 10 feet; peach plantings have been Quad V; and sweet cherry plantings have been on Gisela 5 rootstocks. "After visiting Belgium with IFTA in 2011, we started trials with hedging to create fruiting walls," he said. Hedging has now been done on peaches and apples, including those planted in the older Y on 6- by 12-foot spacing that were put in place between 1991 and 2000. ™ ® ™ ™ ™ ® ® Available on Colt, Gisela®, Krymsk®, Mahaleb, or Mazzard.* *Not all varieties are available on all rootstocks. Call for specific grafting information. Now taking contract orders for 2015! Don't see the variety you want listed here? We can accommodate your custom order now for 2015 trees. 741 Sunset Road, Brentwood, CA 94513 800.634.1671 (Alison Clegg or Richard Chavez) 877.457.6901 (Henry Sanguinetti) Fax 925.634.6040 www.protreenursery.com • www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER June 2013 33