Mar 25, 2016From humble Midwest roots to the world stage
What started as an informal experiment nearly two decades ago has grown into an international joint venture.
On Feb. 1, the Midwest Apple Improvement Association (MAIA) made an agreement with the International Pome Fruit Alliance (IPA) to develop and market the EverCrisp apple outside the United States. The deal was struck at IPA’s annual meeting in Berlin, and is the first exclusive worldwide variety and brand development venture for either party, according to an IPA press release.
“We are very excited to partner with MAIA in this endeavor, for the opportunities that EverCrisp represents for the members of both organizations,” said Peter Dall, IPA’s general manager.
IPA, based in the United Kingdom, represents apple and pear growers, packers and marketers from New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Chile, Europe and the United States. The organization specializes in the procurement, testing and commercialization of new apple and pear varieties, according to the press release.
“The Midwest Apple Improvement Association is a grassroots, grower-owned cooperative that began breeding apples about 20 years ago,” said Bill Dodd, MAIA’s president. “EverCrisp is the first variety released from our program. We are pleased and excited to partner with the International Pome Fruit Alliance, another grower-driven organization, to introduce and expand the EverCrisp brand internationally.”
Modest beginnings
It was 1998 when Ohio grower Mitch Lynd and nurseryman Ed Fackler founded MAIA. They decided small Midwestern growers were being denied access to the new and better “club” varieties breeders were releasing, and if they wanted better apples they’d better start breeding them themselves. They found about 40 friends who agreed to donate $100 a year to pay for supplies. About a dozen years later, when people realized they had some pretty good apples growing, membership started to climb, Lynd said.
MAIA has more than 20 varieties in its breeding pipeline, with several planned for release within the next year. Any one of them is better than any apple on a supermarket shelf right now. And as an added bonus, many are resistant to scab, mildew, fire blight and frost. Some even have non-browning flesh, Lynd said.
One of the association’s long-term goals is to provide its members with a “season-long lineup of exceptionally flavored apples,” said David Doud, an Indiana grower and member of MAIA.
But it all started with EverCrisp, which was released in 2012.
“EverCrisp is as crispy as a Honeycrisp, as sweet as sugar and keeps like rocks,” Lynd said. “It doesn’t get any better.”
During a recent MAIA meeting in Ohio, just days before news of the IPA agreement became official, members could barely contain their excitement about the prospects for EverCrisp.
“We never really set out to make a world beater, but we kind of ended up with one – perhaps,” Doud said.
It was Doud – who called it the “luck of the draw” – who found the first EverCrisp tree growing on his farm. It was one of hundreds of Honeycrisp/ Fuji crosses that MAIA had sent him several years before. Today, there are roughly 800,000 EverCrisp trees in the ground or ordered, with about 200 growers involved, he said.
According to IPA, EverCrisp’s most prominent advantages are its sweet flavor profile and storability. Though the variety was specifically cultivated and tested for growers in the Midwest, its suitability
for markets across the globe gave rise to the joint venture with MAIA.
— Matt Milkovich, managing editor
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