Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/138107
Optimizing Production RISKY business pple growers in New York, and in the northeastern quadrant of the United States generally, are moving toward higher production of fresh market varieties grown in more expensive highdensity orchards. Some observers think New York's average annual production could move up 50 percent, from 30 million bushels a year to 45 million or more. Michigan's average could also move up, from 24 million bushels to 35 million or so. New York and Michigan are the two largest apple-producing states after Washington. Most of the additional production will be high-value fresh market varieties, and those states' traditional balance could shift from 60:40 apples for processing to 60:40 apples for fresh market. Fresh markets are more difficult to serve; there is just no tolerance for less-than-perfect fruit. In processing, you can peel away imperfection or chop it up into applesauce. It costs more to produce fresh-market apples, so while less perfect fruit finds a home in processing, it is not the market of choice. It is also important to faithfully serve your customers. Erratic year-to-year production damages marketing relationships. Growers in both New York and Michigan are working hard this year to win back accounts they could by Richard Lehnert not serve after freezes decimated apple output last year. To make sure growers produce the kind of fruit that results in a high packout of Extra Fancy apples every year, Cornell University horticulturists organized the Eastern Apple Precision Orchard Management Summit last winter. More than 200 growers gathered for two days of seminars and discussion. PART V: As apple growers' risk of loss rises, they need to consider more protective measures. Hail nets protect an orchard in Italy. One of the topics was management of risk from hail, frost, sunburn, and deer. Hail damage As ill luck would have it, growers are moving toward fresh market as Mother Nature struggles to push more apples in the opposite direction. Hail, frost, and sunburn are all expected to become worse problems across the Northeast in the future. The reason, says Mike Fargione, extension educator at Cornell University's Hudson Laboratory, is the changing climate. In apple production, hail has always been a greater problem farther south. North Carolina is notorious for hail damage, and the southern region of New York—the Hudson Valley—suffers more hail damage than the northern and western New York production regions. "In 2000, hail damage in New York's Hudson Valley region was estimated to exceed two million affected bushels on over 7,000 acres," Fargione said. As the climate warms, southern conditions move north. "Increases in hail damage can be expected if predicted increases in extreme precipitation events come to pass," he said. Frost damage More frost events can be expected if predicted milder winters and changes in the growing season come to pass, Fargione said. The prediction is, apples will come out of dormancy earlier and earlier as the climate warms, moving bloom out of May and back into April, but the occurrence of spring freezes will not decrease. Thus trees will be exposed to more freeze risk during their most vulnerable period, not less. Crop losses from freezes cause economic damage in many ways— direct loss of income and market disruption, excessive vegetative growth that comes with a low cropload, potential biennial bearing, the need to FENCES CAN be economical D A fence to deter deer and other destructive browsers may save replacement of entire trees. 10 July 2013 GOOD FRUIT GROWER eer damage to apple trees includes both feeding damage and antler rubbing damage. Twenty years ago, a study estimated the cost of deer damage to all tree fruit crops in New York at $9.4 million a year, according to Mike Fargione, the Cornell University extension fruit educator at the Hudson Valley Laboratory. That value has probably increased greatly because of more highdensity plantings, more valuable varieties, and more deer. While a deer fence eight feet high costs about $15,000 a mile to build, more and more growers are finding it economical. An entire square mile, or 640 acres of orchard land, can be fenced for $60,000, and $100 an acre is small potatoes if it protects a thousand Honeycrisp trees from browsing and feeding damage. The larger the area enclosed, the cheaper it is. Damage levels vary greatly by location, so growers considering protective measures need to assess their individual risk. Feeding on young trees removes growing points, resulting in multistem witches' brooms that destroy leader development and scaffold structure, setting back trees and keeping them from filling their allotted space. "Browsing on mature trees can reduce yields and is particularly significant for high-density plantings on dwarfing rootstocks," Fargione said. During rutting season, antlered male deer can break limbs and rub off bark, resulting in the need to replace trees. Over the years, growers have battled state governments, wild animal advocates, and hunters, as well as deer, as they have used kill permits, confined dogs, repellents, and scare devices to ward off deer or reduce their populations. For many growers, fences and exclusion have caused the least pushback, but working within fenced and gated property is not without drawbacks. —R. Lehnert www.goodfruit.com