Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/50987
NO MORE LIME… Apples are grown in five distinct regions of Ontario, and annual production is about 9 million bushels—about a third as many as New York—but many times the produc- tion of Minnesota, which has an old and successful breed- ing program. At Cornell and at Washington State, breeders have catered to the needs of state growers, restricting some new varieties to those growers alone. Long-term commitment Kelly Ciceran, manager of Ontario Apple Growers, said that an apple-breeding program at Vineland is a long- term commitment to the future of apple production in Ontario. "It's a competitive consumer market for apple growers. We need early assessment and access to new varieties, either through in-licensing opportunities or discovery research that will give us winners for the future." Somers agrees that Ontario growers could produce many more apples than they do, but they need to pro- duce the kind of apples consumers want. The department of consumer insights and product innovation at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, directed by Dr. Isabelle Lesschaeve, will do consumer studies to determine what attributes—tastes, textures, flavors, and colors—they value. That approach has also been taken at Cornell and Washington State. Out of step A study conducted for the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre by Deloitte and Touche resulted in a report last year called "the fifteen-year comprehensive plan for the Ontario apple, tender fruit, and fresh grape industry." It concluded that, while Ontario is a sizeable market with 13 million affluent produce consumers, fresh fruit consumption has been increasing faster than production. "An industry strategy is needed, because while fruit consumption in Ontario is increasing, Ontario producers' market share is declining," the report said. "Ontario con- sumers and many retailers feel that Ontario produce is out of step with their expectations, and government support is not translating into a vibrant industry. "To be competitive with efficient and quality-focused global value chains, we need new orchard husbandry practices [and] new harvesting and quality assurance practices at the producer level; new storage and process- ing technologies and quality assurance practices at the processor level; new handling and quality assurance practices at the distribution level; and new marketing practices at the consumer level—all of which will require significant investments." Both the federal and provincial governments in Canada have developed programs in support of fruit growers to help defray costs of removing outdated vine- yards and orchards and planting modern ones. The Vineland Research and Innovation Centre and its busi- ness development office were instituted in 2006 to speed up horticultural research discoveries at the Vineland Research Station and translate them into commercial products. "Ontario has an ideal climate for apple production and is situated geographically very close to one of the largest fruit and vegetable consumer markets in North America," Somers wrote on the Vineland Web site. "Competition from imported new varieties has put the Ontario apple industry under pressure. Developing new apple cultivars with desir- able traits and consumer appeal will help to recapture the domestic market and revitalize the industry." In the short term, Vineland has engaged a technology scout to seek out potentially valuable cultivars from around the world and bring them into Ontario for evalu- ation, he said. In the longer term, the apple-breeding pro- gram will use this base as well as new tools, like genomics and marker-assisted breeding, to speed up the breeding process and develop new varieties with enhanced consumer appeal and better production traits. • www.goodfruit.com CO SCRUBBERS GO LO2 WITH SHIFLETT'S 2 SCRUBBERS •SAVE TIME •SAVE MONEY •INCREASE FRUIT QUALITY Nitrogen Purge Option Available SHIFLETT'S ADVANTAGES: • Saves time and money (no lime) • Independent room control • Local sales and service for over 30 years • Sizes to fit your needs –25 models to choose from –Custom sizing available to 100,000 bins • Complete system installation 104 - 11th N.E. • East Wenatchee WA 98802-USA Tel: 509-884-1540, Fax 509-884-0619 www.shiflettsinc.com • E-mail: shiflettsinc@shiflettsinc.com Complete storage technology for fruits and vegetables. GOOD FRUIT GROWER DECEMBER 2011 39 Energy Savings $$ Programs Available