January 2020 - 22

GREAT LAKES EXPO NEWS
Michigan apple industry veterans honored
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
The Michigan State Horticultural
Society (MSHS) honored a couple and
two individuals with Distinguished
Service Awards recognizing their
contributions to the state's fruitgrowing
industry.
The award ceremony took place Dec.
11 at a banquet of the Great Lakes
Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market EXPO
in Grand Rapids, Michigan. MSHS
President Chris Kropf gave plaques and
handshakes to these three parties:
Dedicated growers
Ed and Alicia Robinette are the
owners of Robinette's Apple Haus &
Winery in Grand Rapids.
Today, he and his two brothers
operate a farm entirely focused on
retail sales of apples, peaches and
cherries. The popular farm market
sells value added products as well
as offering seasonal pick-your-own
options. Just two miles outside the city
limits of Grand Rapids, the farm draws
plenty of customers.
" The world has changed around
us, " Ed said. An area that in 1911
was thoroughly rural today has
very little agriculture. " All of our
neighboring farms are gone, and
we're the last one holding out. "
He serves on the Kent County
Agricultural Preservation Board.
Ed has served in several other
roles in the industry as well as local
government, including the Kenowa
Pomester Club, the Michigan
Pomesters, the Michigan Cider Task
Force, Michigan Cider Makers Guild,
Michigan Apple Committee, U.S. Apple
and the Grand Rapids Township Board
of Trustees. He was the president of
MSHS in 2012.
Alicia works on the company books
and other non-farming operations of
the farm.
" I married into it, " Alicia said in the
video. " I know a lot more about farming
now than I did before I married him. "
ALICIA AND ED ROBINETTE
" My great-grandfather came here
in 1911, " Ed said in a video aired at
the banquet. The farm was already
established when his great-grandfather
bought it at age 65. As the fourth
generation of the family of growers,
Ed grew up working alongside his
grandfather and father.
A valued crop consultant
Jim Laubach worked as an
independent crop consultant for more
than 35 years as owner of HortSystems
Inc. in northwest Michigan.
Laubach has been part of Michigan's
fruit industry for his entire life, starting
with Triple D Orchards in Empire,
Michigan, his family's cherry farm in
Benzie County, and earning degrees
JIM LAUBACH
" It's a great pleasure getting to know
a lot of farmers and be on their farms, "
Laubach said.
A trade show treasure
Sharri German has served in a few
different roles over the years for the
MSHS and the Michigan Vegetable
Council (MVC).
Like Alicia Robinette, she married
in horticulture and entomology from
Michigan State University (MSU). A
responsibility reporting insect populations
back to MSU researchers prepared him for
a career as a crop advisor who tests and
surveys orchards before making treatment
recommendations based on what he finds.
He bought HortSystems Inc. in 1985.
In a video played at the banquet,
industry leaders credited Laubach with
helping growers. With HortSystems,
Laubach helped develop a network of
weather-monitoring stations that were
placed in area orchards, and that has
since become a part of MSU's larger
Enviroweather program. And he also
has played a big role in developing
integrated pest management systems
for cherries.
SHARRI GERMAN
into the apple business, tying the
knot with Dave German a few
months after graduating high school
together in 1968.
When the couple started to scale
back their farming operation, she
became MSHS' first female treasurer in
1989 and has served since that time -
30 years.
" This has been the longest a treasurer
has served the society in its 150-year
history, " Kropf said.
In 2000, she was hired for an
additional job as trade show manager
for the Great Lakes EXPO, a show
that's jointly presented with the MVC.
At the time of her hire, a brand-new
convention center, DeVos Place was
being built and she promised she
would one day fill up the entire main
hall with exhibitor booths - she did
that first in 2014, and the exhibitions
have since expanded into additional
space in a second hall of the conference
center. The show books more than 450
exhibitors a year.
German is now retiring.
" Her services will be greatly missed, "
Kropf said. FGN
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January 2020

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