Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/506700
54 MAY 15, 2015 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com LAST BITE More Young Growers at goodfruit.com/yg Nick Hammond grower / The Dalles, Oregon age / 32 crops / Cherries business / Foreman for Curtis Orchards other experience / Works with bush-sized trees based on Australian system and central- leader and steep-leader systems. PLAY goodfruit.com/yg scan to watch the interview " " " " How did you get started? I started out farming with my parents in our peach orchard. We farmed that until I was about 15 years old, then my Dad got sick and we stopped farming. That's when I started working for my cousins who lived down the road, who own a cherry farm. What system do you favor? We've started planting a lot closer together compared to the old-style spacing of maybe 20 feet apart. Now we're planting 10 feet by 16 feet. With the bush-style trees, we are going 6.5 feet by 15 feet, trying to get everything tight and get our production up. Hopefully get our tons per acre up while maintaining nice, big fruit. What are benefi ts of the newer systems? The biggest benefi t to these systems is—well obviously some people are worried about the labor shortage, and having people up on ladders is dangerous, especially in the old trees where you are using 14-foot ladders. We're trying to get the trees down to a maximum ladder height of about 10 feet. Our tallest trees in the tight plantings are about 12 feet, and with our bush trees we aren't even using ladders. We're cutting them off at 8 feet to get that pedestrian style orchard. These styles just make everything faster and safer while trying to give our pickers a reason to keep coming back. What do you see in the future? I'd like to see more technology get into the orchard. We are kind of in the dark ages when it comes to that on our farm. We need better technology, and it's only going to come from the young growers. The thing I'd like to see improved is a better system to pay workers by the pound. It would make it more fair to the picker and fair to us as farmers. by TJ Mullinax More from this interview and other Young Growers at goodfruit.com/yg. " It's an ever-changing industry. We have to be very smart about keeping up... www.gslong.com SPONSORED BY