January 2022 - 1

Few answers found for
rapid apple decline
Michigan fruit growers
honor Larry Gut, Ed
Oxley
12
16
22
Rutgers prof identifies
what makes a winery
work
January 2022 | Volume 61 |
Issue 1
PRODUCTION
EFFICIENCY
Work platform eases
orchard tasks
Workers pick apples from Huron Fruit Systems' self-propelled, multi-level harvest platform. Photo: Huron Fruit Systems
By Gary Pullano
Editor
(This is the first in a series of stories
updating and tracking the latest technology
trends in specialty crop agriculture.)
The ongoing labor crunch impacting
specialty crop growers has put an
enhanced emphasis on reducing the
number of workers required in the
production process.
Among the industry contributors
who long-ago recognized this
opportunity is Walter Wafler, who
operates Huron Fruit Systems in
Pittsford, New York, an offshoot of
Wafler Farms that manufactures
equipment that streamlines the
pruning and harvesting processes.
With Wafler's more than 30 years of
engineering experience, the company
has developed a suite of products that
are customizable to any operation and
can be used for different functions
across seasons.
Huron Fruit's self-propelled,
multi-level harvest platform allows
pickers to harvest the entire height of
the tree with minimal effort. With the
system's bin exchange feature, pickers
are able to harvest without interruption.
The Harvest Platform is highly
versatile and can
be used for other
operations such
as hand thinning,
wire stringing,
pruning and
more.
High-Tech Tools
2022
See EFFICIENCY, page 5
Unruly cider apples can be tamed
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
Apples prized by cider makers for
their high levels of tannins and acids
are difficult to grow, with tendencies to
biennial growing and other undesirable
growing characteristics.
A new set of studies from Cornell
University looks at different thinning
practices - studying what is being
pursued by growers, and which
techniques seem to work best in trials.
Graduate student David Zakalik, who
conducted the research for his master's
degree project under the supervision of
professor Gregory Peck, presented his
findings in a December presentation at
the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm
Market EXPO in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Counting the costs
Part of Zakalik's presentation was a
microbudget he developed for growing
cider apples based on discussions with
growers and Extension staff. He assumed
that the apples would be sold at the farm
for about 35 cents per pound. Planting
density taken to be 900 trees per acre,
the same as the farm where he did his
fieldwork. Harvest costs varied from
$18 to $36 per bin - some growers he
talked to pay pickers a higher rate for the
smaller cider apples.
" If you have just way more, by number,
fruit to pick, it takes longer to fill up the
same 900-pound bin, " he said. " That's the
sort of compensation people are doing. "
Chemical thinning costs were
estimated by another researcher as
$170.52 per acre per year, while Zakalik
estimated hand thinning costs were at
$675 per acre per year, based on a rate of
45 work hours per acre and New York's
adverse effect wage rate of $15 per hour.
Zakalik's budget analysis found a
profitability for the Dabinett apple
variety with three years of chemical
or hand thinning. Other apple
See CIDER, page 8

January 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2022