November 2020 - 6

SOCIETY
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Spygold, Wolf River and Snow.
" A lot of the varieties we have, we
may only have a few trees of, or a few
dozen trees of, " Bristol said. " Our
basic strategy is, that, because we're
a retail farm, we're trying to have all
of those mainstays - Fuji, Galas and
Honeycrisp, everything like that. But
we also want something new and
interesting that you really have to
keep coming back for. Some of the
varieties you may only see for one
day or one week out of the year. "
He said one customer last year
drove all the way from Kansas,
planning a whole trip around getting
a specific, rare type of apple.
" It's that sort of thing that allows
us, on a relatively small farm, to form
our niche, " he said.
Leading ahead
With a head for technology and a
solid background at the family farm,
Bristol seems as well-equipped as any
for the challenges of the new year.
Bristol came up in the industry as
the youngest of five brothers working
with his grandfather and father
on the farm running day-to-day
operations.
" I grew up never wanting to do
anything else, " he said.
Eventually, he did want to " expand
his horizons, " as he puts it, and
that led to a full-time position as a
precision agriculture lead for Nutrien
Ag Solutions - the farm has split
up duties so Bristol can hold down
the outside job while still managing
" big-picture " decisions for the farm.
His position with Nutrien involves
training and supporting sales and
operations staff in its software
platform, called Echelon.
" This computer software
encompasses scouting - our apps do
that digitally - and being able to send
that (scouting) to growers; and being
able to write prescriptions, crop plans;
and then taking growers' data, as
applied data, and (using) that to grow
better crops next year, " Bristol said.
Growing up working with his
father, Bristol was exposed to apple
industry leadership as a teenager.
" My dad has been on the MACMA
(Michigan Agricultural Cooperative
Marketing Association) board for
literally decades, and so about high
school, I started going to some
meetings with him, " he said.
Currently, in addition to MSHS,
Bristol serves on the board that runs
the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and
Farm Market EXPO. This year, the
board made the tough call to hold the
EXPO in a virtual, online-only format.
" We're still planning a full slate of
educational sessions, " Bristol said.
Talk's Cheap,
Research Isn't
44 Years of Research Proves ...
Exceptional levels of growth enhancement,
stress tolerance, and plant performance
SUPERIOR QUALITY * YIELD * STRESS TOLERANCE
Ocean Organics Guarantee
®
Seaweed Extract
Ask for the Research!
Apples:
* Enhanced Fruit Quality
* Reduced Bitterpit
* Increased BRIX
* Improved Red Fruit Color
Blueberries:
* Improved Yield
* Increased Weight
* Total Returns
Independently tested and
proven... apples, blueberries,
strawberries, table and
wine grapes, raspberries,
tomatoes and more.
Guarantee Your Crops ...
®
* Call Greg Today - (902) 452-9329
* Visit us: GLEXPO virtual tradeshow
* Visit: www.oceanorganics.com
Grower, Formulator and Distributor
Inquiries Welcome!
The virtual trade show and education sessions will allow for interaction.
" It's not just a website with some
links. It's not just a website with
some pictures. "
While virtual trade shows are an
unfortunate reality of the agriculture
industry during the COVID-19
pandemic, it's relatively a small
matter compared to other regulations
growers faced in 2020 and may face
in the future: Keeping staff and
customers safe from infection. Bristol
said that some orders that came
down from officials seemed poorly
conceived - for instance, applying
different safety protocols to domestic
and foreign farmhands who normally
work side-by-side.
But, in late July, he was done
with the " sprint " of cherry harvest
and was looking forward to the
" marathon " of a good apple season
at the farm market. His customers
seemed eager to " get out of the house
and do something. " And, taken as
a whole, COVID-19 was starting to
seem more manageable.
" It's presenting a lot of challenges,
but I don't think they're challenges
that we're not ready for, " he said. FGN
Brookwood Fruit Farm is primarily a retail operation.
www.oceanorganics.com
Waldoboro, Maine * 888-312-0106
Manufacturing
Administration
Ocean Organics - Industry Leading Provider of Seaweed Extracts
Ann Arbor, Michigan * 800-628-GROW (4769)
www.oceanorganics.com
6 | FruitGrowersNews.com
http://www.oceanorganics.com http://www.oceanorganics.com http://www.oceanorganics.com http://www.FruitGrowersNews.com
November 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2020
