Fruit Growers News

New sizer, other equipment working for Hess Brothers

In July 2010, Hess Brothers Fruit Co. installed a new sizer, drying tunnel, grading table and automatic carton accumulation, handling and palletizing system. It was not a small investment. Brothers Fred and Jerry Hess own and operate the Leola, Pa.-based apple packing business. In light of the economic climate, the timing of the equipment purchases was not without risk, but the Hess brothers chose to look on the bright side. “We ultimately made our decision because we think the apple industry is growing,” Fred said. “Partly because people are being much more health-conscious, but an even bigger factor is the continuing upward trend in global consumption. A lot of other countries are growing very rapidly, and fortunately they’re developing big appetites for apples.” Between their Leola packinghouse and a second facility in Alton, N.Y., the Hess brothers expect to pack about 1.7 million cartons of…  » Read more

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Set yourself up for succession success

About a decade ago, Russell Costanza's son and daughter both decided they wanted to inherit the family farm. Their decision spurred Costanza to do something he'd been thinking about for years but hadn't gotten around to: Come up with a farm succession plan. Here's the family situation: Costanza, now 65, and his wife, Janice, own Russell Costanza Farms in Sodus, Mich. Their two children, Lisa and Todd, are both in their early 30s. Todd has two kids, with another on the way. Lisa's husband, Ron Hauch, has been working at Costanza Farms since he was a boy, and will be an equal partner in the farm inheritance, Costanza said. Costanza grew up on his father's Sodus-area vegetable farm. By the time he was in his 20s, he knew farming was a tough way to make a living, so he worked for an engineering firm for…  » Read more

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Wisconsin cranberry growers looking for research center funding

The members of the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association (WSCGA) and researchers at the University of Wisconsin have wanted a dedicated cranberry research station for more than 20 years, said Tom Lochner, WSCGA’s executive director. “We have a pretty good idea what we’d want,” he said. “The only issue is trying to get funding for it.” If that funding were to ever materialize, WSCGA has a couple of options for moving forward. One option is to get a grower to set aside 20 to 30 acres on a pre-existing farm and provide resources to the owner of the farm for the usage. But not many growers can spare that kind of land, Lochner said. Some field research is done on working farms, but it’s limited, Lochner said. “There are lots of trials and experiments that USDA or university researchers would like to do,” he said.…  » Read more

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Using Habitat to Increase Pollination

Many arthropods provide valuable ecosystem services, including those that humans depend on because they support food production. Insects have been estimated to provide Americans with natural pest suppression services worth nearly $4.5 billion annually and pollination services valued at nearly $3 billion annually. The scarcity of flowering and native plants within agricultural landscapes, the use of broad-spectrum insecticide and the loss or fragmentation of habitat have led to a decrease in beneficial insects, which puts us at risk of losing the natural ecosystem services they provide. There has been a growing interest in the benefits of reintegrating natural habitats into agricultural landscapes as one strategy for conserving beneficial insects. Manipulation of the habitat in field margins or around cropped areas by establishing flowering plants and grasses can increase beneficial insect populations in agricultural systems. Modification or enhancement of the surrounding habitat may be an ideal…  » Read more

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Dutch, Belgian nurseries offer growers alternatives

Last summer, members of the International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA) got to visit two European tree fruit nurseries: Verbeek in the Netherlands and Carolus in Belgium. Both nurseries are known and respected in the international tree fruit industry, said Neal Manly, who helped organize the July IFTA bus tour of England, the Netherlands and Belgium. Manly, sales manager for Willow Drive Nursery in Ephrata, Wash., said the Dutch nursery, Verbeek, focuses more on the knip boom system, which originated in the Netherlands. Carolus focuses more on the fruiting wall concept, which spread north to Belgium from its origin in France. Janus Verbeek, who’s still active with the nursery, founded Verbeek about five decades ago. The company is based in Steenbergen, in the southwest corner of the Netherlands. Today, Verbeek produces more than 1.5 million fruit trees per year, and has about 360 acres of nursery…  » Read more

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Plan ahead before planting crops on marginal land

A fairly common situation involves a landowner wishing to establish crops on unprepared, marginal land. Owner goals vary widely, and often include producing food crops for local sales, home gardening or establishing wildlife food plots. Regardless of the proposed goal, the problems are often similar. The landowner’s choice of field location may be limited to sites with very challenging problems, including problematic existing vegetation, undesirable soil pH (usually very acidic), poor soil fertility and drainage issues (often very sandy, drought-prone soils). People, especially newcomers to crop production, are often eager to get started and envision a smooth transition from what currently exists at their field site to what they desire as a final result. However, there are some important questions regarding site preparation that should be carefully considered before getting started. Are you open to the use of appropriate herbicides and synthetic fertilizers, or will…  » Read more

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Plum pox virus meets its match

A research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is proving to be more than a match for the plum pox virus (PPV). Aiming Wang received Canada’s Gold Harvest Award in 2010 for developing a transgenic plum variety resistant to the disease. Now, he’s using more conventional means to develop the same in peaches. “I think we are the leader in the world in this area,” Wang said. “We have already identified the peach gene (the virus needs).” In order to replicate themselves, plant viruses depend on genetic material within their hosts. To find an appropriate gene – one of about 40,000 in peach trees – Wang and his team embarked on a kind of fishing trip, using one of 11 virus genes as bait. It’s a complex process, one that required nearly four years of effort. The next step is to mutate the peach gene…  » Read more

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Michigan State Horticultural Society raffles TV in support of survey

The Michigan State Horticultural Society sponsored a raffle at the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market EXPO in Grand Rapids, Mich., for growers who participated in USDA’s 2011 Michigan Fruit Acreage Inventory Survey. The 2012 Michigan Apple Queen, Marissa Tidey, center, and first runner-up Emily Heeren drew the name with the help of Jay Johnson, right, from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The winners of the 47-inch TV were Sam and Teresa Babb from Hartford, Mich. “It was a very simple survey and we got it back in the mail the next day,” Teresa said. “We were very surprised and feel very lucky. We really appreciate it.” By Derrek Sigler, Associate Editor 

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Prison labor works for Colorado growers

With talk of farm-labor shortages across the country, can prisoners fill in the gap? Earlier this year, officials in Georgia and Alabama suggested using prison labor to replace missing migrant workers, but in Georgia at least, that hasn't happened. There was a pilot program last spring using workers who were on probation, but that was about it, said Charles Hall, executive director of the Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association. Prison labor has worked in Colorado, however, especially for Joey Pisciotta, owner of Pisciotta Farms and Produce Marketing in Avondale. Pisciotta grows onions, watermelons, pumpkins and some commodity crops. Colorado toughened its immigration laws around 2005, and a lot of Pisciotta's migrant workers told him they wouldn't be coming back. That's when a state representative approached him about using prisoners as workers. Pisciotta was skeptical, but he needed workers and thought it was worth a…  » Read more

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Sign on to selling more produce

Pick up any business magazine these days and it is almost guaranteed there will be an article on social media and the need for farmers, suppliers and retailers to join Facebook, Twitter or one of the other social media pages if they want to grow sales. While I agree with this sentiment, I am also concerned we will forget what we already know about making a sale. In the exciting hype and need to learn new skills, we should not forget some of the basics. For example, have you taken a look at your signage strategy of late? We all know that the role of signage is to provide consumers with information to enable them to make a decision. In fact, the role of signage is to increase the average sale per customer, which means we need to design product signage that maximizes sales opportunities.…  » Read more

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Catch the worldwide blueberry wave

A “blue wave” of blueberries is rapidly approaching, and the industry has to find ways to increase consumption, said Mark Villata, executive director of the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC). He spoke during the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market EXPO in Grand Rapids, Mich. From 1995 to 2010, world blueberry acreage increased from more than 50,000 acres to nearly 190,000 acres. Most of the growth took place in North America and South America, but other regions of the world also expanded their plantings, he said. Significant growth in worldwide highbush blueberry production is expected to continue over the next few years, moving from 400 million pounds in 2005 to 1.4 billion pounds by 2015, Villata said. North America accounted for about 57 percent of the world’s highbush blueberry acreage in 2010, followed by South America at 23 percent and Europe at 11 percent.…  » Read more

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