Demands Healthy Plants
By David Eddy, Editor, American Fruit Grower
It wasn’t too long ago — the change occurred roughly with that of the millennium — that fruit growers began to take a hard look at the taste of their produce. It sounds hard to believe, but prior to then, they didn’t have any incentive to do so.
Sure, the mostly smaller growers who would direct-market their fruit either through their own farm stands or farmers’ markets, have long emphasized great quality. But largely because of their desire for repeat business, the taste focus is something that was lost on the produce buyers of yesteryear. They were responsible for purchasing the lion’s share of the nation’s fruit, and they sought the best-looking fruit — sourced from large wholesale growers whose fruits stocked the produce aisle in large grocery retailers — as the industry credo was “people buy with their eyes.”
That may be true for initial purchases. But as the information revolution provided more data on sales, the numbers showed repeat buyers buy as much or not more based on other fruit attributes, such as taste and texture. Fruit growers of all sizes around the country don’t focus on color any more at the expense of these other attributes, and it has led to a change in how many farm, according to several conversations with Extension farm advisors at universities throughout the country. They say growers have come to realize that the healthiest plants produce the largest amounts of quality fruit that fetches the highest prices, often called target fruit.
Profit Over Yield
Apple growers know all too well the problem of growing a nice-looking fruit bred for just that — not taste — as the ‘Red Delicious’ remained the #1 apple long after most consumers said they’d had enough. Nikki Rothwell, Michigan State University Extension Specialist, and the Coordinator of the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Resource Center, says they had a similar experience with ‘McIntosh’.
“Many growers see the value in growing a high-quality crop where they can maximize profitability rather than just growing for tonnage. This is very evident in northern Michigan, an area where we grew mostly processing apples,” Nikki Rothwell says.
“We have really moved away from many varieties that were traditionally used in processing to fresh market fruit that demands a higher price. When I do apple maturity testing in the fall, I have a hard time finding ‘McIntosh’ apples, which used to be our staple in northern Michigan.”
In California’s San Joaquin Valley, Mae Culumber, the University of California Cooperative Extension Nut Crops Farm Advisor in Fresno, says a continuing drought is speeding the movement to quality over quantity.
“Particularly with water, growers will be less focused on maximizing yield, and more so on maximum profit by taking into consideration the going value $/lb. of the crop with the increasing cost they pay for any supplemental water,” she says. “More water may increase yield but may end up costing more than the return on investment. Also, if we are applying less water, we will need to make adjustments to decrease the amount of nutrients we are applying as well.”
It’s a tough balancing act, says Gary Gao, a Professor and the Small Fruit Extension Specialist with The Ohio State University. Growers, especially the smaller direct-market growers he deals with, are now more willing to try new methods in search of better quality, if the profit is there.
“We are doing research on long cane raspberry production in Ohio, a high input and high return method,” he says. “However, the learning curve can be pretty steep. I am recommending protected fruit production, such as high tunnel, rain shelter, rotatable cross arm trellis to mitigate risks.”
But it’s easy for growers to overdo it, Chris Chen, UCCE Integrated Vineyard Systems Advisor on the North Coast, including Sonoma County, a premium wine-growing region, says. He’s got a different perspective than most farm advisors, who work with growers of fresh fruits. Good looks aren’t much of a factor when it comes to winegrapes, after all.
“Grapes have historically been one of the few crops that have put a strong emphasis on quality of the crop throughout human cultivation. We’re seeing more cropping systems becoming more centralized on the quality of their crops in recent years,” Chris Chen says.
“While I think this is fantastic, there are concerns with economic viability that must be addressed before changing your agricultural model. Even in grapes, many cropping systems are based on scale and there are countless vineyards that operate at a loss while still growing high-end grapes.”
Operating at a loss is generally not possible long-term, much less advisable, and Chen says he tells growers interested in a sustainable vineyard producing grapes for ultra-premium wines that sustainability isn’t just about the environment. After all, you can’t improve the model when the model itself disintegrates.
Chen’s forthright analysis of sustainability is reminiscent of the three-legged school for business. It’s been revised by some in recent years to the three Es of sustainability: environmental, ethical, and economic. Some growers need to question long-held theories, he says, as good growers ask questions until they get satisfactory answers.
“There is a bias that more yield leads to lower quality. That’s not always true in vineyards. Many vineyards are grown with lower yields than they can support and have imbalanced vines, with enough vegetative tissue to support higher crop loads than are allowed by the growers,” he says. “The trick is finding that balance between canopy size, water and nutrient availability, and yield. Based on the resources available, how large can your canopy grow? This will determine how much yield you can retain on a vine without losses to quality. This concept is true for many crops. Balancing the crop load with the photosynthetic potential of the plant will help improve the characteristics of the ripened fruit.”
Monitoring/Measuring
The ability to obtain such values — and just as important, the ability to synthesize the data — is relatively new. With California short on water, obtaining such data is critical, because growers need to make the best use of every drop. Also, growers must be able to measure their own values and tailor irrigation and nutrition plans to whatever crop and microclimate they farm, Culumber says.
“It is difficult to make one size for all recommendations because of the different performance with varying rootstocks and varieties, growing climates, soil types, and water source quality throughout the state,” Culumber says.
“Growers are collecting more site-specific information to understand the relationship between tree nutrition and yield, and balanced nutrient management and irrigation management programs. They are thinking more about placement, rate, and timing to maximize the uptake and efficiency for NPK and micronutrients. We should be thinking about applying nutrition to trees in many small frequent doses that best match the uptake by the tree for the growing stage in crop development.”
As the oft-mentioned Peter Drucker quote goes, you can’t monitor what you can’t measure. All farm advisors agreed that growers should have all the basic measurement tools. Considering California’s dire water situation, it seems worth it to invest a few thousand bucks in a pressure bomb, which can you give you a good idea of a plant’s water status. Culumber advises growers to invest the time to fully inform irrigation and fertigation decisions.
“Growers are using traditional techniques like auguring to evaluate soil moisture by hand or measuring the water status of trees to determine when to irrigate,” Culumber says. “Technologies and services that utilize soil and atmospheric sensors data to provide a precise estimate of the amount of water recommended to meet crop needs each week are also available.”
Not all technology will be affordable to smaller growers, at least not yet, OSU’s Gao says. But some are well worth the investment and partnering with neighbors can make such equipment much more affordable. But growers have to know what they’re doing when they employ technology.
“A smart/intelligent sprayer, a mechanical weed removal tool, a mechanical pruning hedger/trimmer, and an affordable mechanical harvester may help,” Gao says. “It is more important now than ever for growers to gather the latest information from the university researchers. The margin for error in fruit production is small and getting smaller.”
That is all the more reason to develop a complete plan for the season, says Rothwell, who has seen a big change in her time with Extension.
“Growers are much more interested in a holistic approach to nutrient management than when I started many years ago,” Rothwell says.
“They are looking to fine tune a nutrient management program rather than ground apply lots of N in the spring. Research has also helped guide this change in attitude. For instance, in cherry, many growers are using information developed at MSU that showed the benefits of fall foliar urea applications just before senescence.”
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Now that you've heard from some our country's brightest Extension advisors, you might want more information on the U.S. fruit industry directly from the growers themselves. Check out the 2022 American Fruit Grower of State of the Industry; our exclusive annual survey provides both illuminating charts and eye-opening anecdotes.
