Apples

Fresh apple holdings down 7% from 2018

U.S. Apple Association's eighth - and final -survey report on the 2018 apple crop. shows this year’s fresh apple holdings on June 1, 2019, totaled 27.6 million bushels, 7% less than the inventories reported for... more »

Michigan Apple Board appointees attend first meeting

Kimberly A. Kropf and Caleb J. Coulter attended their first Michigan Apple Committee meeting on June 4. Governor Gretchen Whitmer had earlier appointed them to the Michigan Apple Committee Board of Directors back in April.... more »

Organic grower uses NRCS program to encourage pollinators

After a hard day’s work in the orchard, there’s nothing like enjoying a glass of cider made from apples you grew yourself. Deirdre Birmingham can do just that. Deirdre has academic training and experience in... more »

New food and ag biz competition launched in upstate New York

New York State and Cornell University recently launched Grow-NY, a food innovation and agriculture technology business challenge. Grow-NY is a business competition focused on enhancing the emerging food and agriculture innovation cluster currently present in the Finger Lakes, Central New... more »

Small-time apple growers inflate ag census numbers

The USDA counted fewer middle-size farms across American agriculture during the 2017 agriculture census, and fruit growers are no exception. Take apple growers, for instance. The number of farms growing apples during the same time... more »

Hendrickson joins USApple as manager of association services

Matthew Hendrickson will join the U.S. Apple Association (USApple) on June 10 in the newly created position of Manager of Association Services. Hendrickson brings a wealth of experience in association and nonprofit management, including member development,... more »

New diagnostic methods for apple fire blight introduced

Agdia of Elkhart, Indiana, has commercialized an Elisa assay for detection of Erwinia amylovora, the causal agent of fire blight on apple and pear. Erwinia amylovora is a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that causes fire blight... more »

Northern Virginia’s first cidery to open in Alexandria, source local apples

Virginia’s Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, the Honorable Bettina K. Ring, announced May 12 that Lost Boy Cider, a soon-to-open Alexandria business, will receive an Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development (AFID) program grant. The announcement,... more »