Nov 8, 2010

Michigan hort president tackles issues

When Steve Thome was a teenager, the last thing he wanted to do was run the family farm. Now, as he prepares to take the reins as president of the Michigan State Horticultural Society (MSHS), he knows farming is what he was meant to do.

Thome Orchards, near Grand Rapids, Mich., is a family business. Steve’s father, Harold Thome, ran the farm and still works on it, although these days it’s more of a semi-retired role. They farm apples on roughly 115 acres, with some land rented out for cash crops. The apple varieties grown at Thome Orchards include Honeycrisp, Fuji, Jonagold, Cameo, McIntosh, Gala, Paula Red, Golden Supreme, Empire, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious and Rome.

As president, Thome wants to continue to serve the horticultural industry in Michigan. He is also looking at furthering research opportunities with Michigan State University (MSU) and working at expanding the reach of MSHS with younger growers. Thome is concerned about ongoing changes in the department structure at MSU, and especially in MSU Extension.

“That is a real question these days,” Thome said. “Are they going to continue to change? My hope is that the hort society has some input on that.”

One of the things Thome sees in his role as president of MSHS is the role of Extension with growers.

“Extension is an unbiased resource for the growers,” he said. “For instance, where I’m located, we have access to some of the best Extension agents you could ask for. The more we as growers utilize Extension services, the better things will go.”

Challenges that lie ahead for Michigan growers include labor issues and regulations.

“Labor is at the top of the list as far as challenges facing growers,” Thome said. “After that, you’ve got regulations with pesticides and residues and the GAP process still continues to stress growers. I hope that it gets streamlined in the future.”

Thome just went through the GAP certification process himself. The first year was a maze of paperwork, he said. The second was much smoother, although he had to make a few adjustments. One of the biggest GAP elements lately has been traceability. To test his traceability system, Thome recently underwent a mock recall.

“It really wasn’t that hard for us,” he said. “Just a couple extra pieces of paper really. We already knew from our records what apples were picked, the date they were picked, the bin they were in, the person who picked them, the block they were picked from and even the time of day they were picked.”

As for Thome’s harvest, last year was his biggest year ever, and this year’s crop is down considerably from that. The blame, he said, falls on two hard freezes in May, which they refer to as the Mother’s Day Freeze. He said they have noticed some frost scarring on the fruit as they harvest it.

Despite the difficulty, prices seem to be pretty strong, he said.
Thome said it will be hard to determine just how much the tariffs being imposed on apples by Mexico will affect prices and grower profits – until the harvest is complete. The size of the crop will help determine where growers sit, he said.

Growers have been talking about managed, or club, varieties lately. Thome weighed in on the subject by saying he wasn’t part of any clubs, but he’s interested to see where things go. He feels that Gala is still a very strong variety. Honeycrisp is doing well, but is a difficult variety to grow and manage. Cameo seems to be doing well and Jonagold is becoming a mainstay, he said.

“I think the Jonagold may be pushing Jonathans out a little bit.”

Thome is giving high-density growing systems a try, to see if they will work for his orchards. He has started several blocks of tall-spindle, high-density trees, mostly in Gala. He feels the smaller trees on dwarfing rootstocks make things easier and more efficient, which reduces costs.

“I think it will have a definite impact on pruning,” he said. “I think that, soon, we’ll be able to pay by the tree, as opposed to paying pruners by the hour.”

— By Derrek Sigler, Assistant Editor