Fruit Growers Expect Sweet ’16

For the first time, but certainly not the last, American Fruit Grower® and Western Fruit Grower® magazines recently asked fruit growers, researchers, and allied industry members such as vendors, suppliers, and distributors what they thought about the current state of the industry and where it’s headed.

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The response was overwhelming, as 750 of you weighed in — including 545 growers — providing valuable insight in an online survey. Over the next few pages, you can see through text and infographics what’s on the minds of your industry counterparts.

Spoiler Alert: While many of the comments the general public offers on the Internet are complaints, those of us in the fruit industry are decidedly optimistic, part of what makes this industry great.

Production-Compare-Pie-ChartGrowers Excited About 2016
Growers’ optimism can be seen in their planting plans for the coming year. In nearly every crop category, many more growers will be ramping up production in 2016 than scaling back.

In fact, there was only one crop category, citrus, in which more than one in 10 growers (23%) said they were going to decrease production in 2016. That’s understandable, what with the so-far incurable disease Huanglongbing, or citrus greening, looming. Still, nearly a third of citrus growers (31%) are increasing production, and almost half, 45%, are standing pat.

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That optimism is especially interesting in light of the fact that during the past year, almost the exact same number of growers — nearly a quarter of those who responded — reported sales were down more than 10% than were up more than 10%.

Asked the best thing they did to improve profits in 2015, one Northeastern pick-your-own grower, who has been in the business more than 50 years, said simply “Raise the price, double the production.”

Another grower, who farms berries in the Midwest and sells through many channels, answered: “Started paying labor by the pound, instead of hourly.”

Other growers answered with everything from “invest in automatic harvesting,” to “lower tree height.”

Growing-in-2016 New Crops-Word-CloudFinding out what new crops fruit growers are going to be planting in the coming year ranged the gamut from berries to winegrapes, and wasn’t limited to other fruits. For instance, for growers, the term “weed” definitely has a new meaning these days. One Southwest grower of apples, pears, peaches, and cherries for CSA and farm market clients, whose 2015 sales were down more than 10% from 2014 replies: “Considering marijuana.”

That same grower, who despite declining sales last year managed to keep his sense of humor when asked what his most profitable investment was in 2015: “We froze out. Good thing we had some crop insurance!”

Of those who said they weren’t going to be planting new crops, one California citrus grower wasn’t so much concerned with HLB, but the state’s continuing drought: “No, because of the water situation.”

Another California grower, whose farm is more than a century old and who grows a wide range of fruit crops, also said he’s taking a wait-and-see approach because of the drought.

“We are on hold until the drought eases; if anything we’ll look at drought-tolerant cover cropping,” he replies. “We just don’t have any water to spare for replacing trees or investing in new or more crops.”

But the drought in California is, with any luck, a temporary problem. By the time you are reading this, in January, the state hopefully has a healthy snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.

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Allied Industry Perspective
The industry vendors who responded to the survey mostly represented larger companies with annual sales of $50 million or more. Reflecting the industry at large, most are based in the West, and the main products they sell are for crop protection and nutrition.

About half said their sales were up at least 5% in 2015 over 2014, and expect more of the same this year. In good news for growers, the lion’s share don’t expect prices to go up much this year, if at all.

Said one Eastern supplier of the main trends: “Increased technology, consolidation and organic push.”

Said one supplier in the Pacific Northwest: “Improving communication and understanding of the need for consumer research.”

Said one Southeastern supplier: “Strong overseas markets. Growing demand. Health benefits.”

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Researchers Weigh In
Eastern Extension researchers and grower association members were the biggest respondents to the questions directed at them. The crops they work with most are pome and stone fruits, as well as berries.

One somewhat surprising survey result is that despite the budget hits taken by Land Grant Universities in recent years, researchers’ hunt for money to support their work is not overwhelming, as can be seen in the following chart.

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On these challenges, one Southeastern researcher said: “Disease/insect management and the dividing public opinion on using the latest technology to help with the management of insects and diseases.”

An advisor from the Midwest added: “Focus on increasing productivity. It is not how cheaply you can grow an acre of fruit, but how much it costs you to produce a pound of fruit.”

Finally, a Southeastern researcher concluded with some advice for newer growers: “Find your crop and grow it well. We can always grow a little bit of everything, but to stand out and brand yourself, I would find that one crop that really drives your passion … and master growing it.” ●

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SIDEBAR: Whither Biocontrols?

Growers were evenly divided on the issue of using biocontrols on their crops, with a small majority (52%) saying they do not use them. Of the 48% who do use them, the preferred types of biocontrols were, in order, beneficial insects, biochemicals (plant extracts, PGRs, etc.), biopesticides (microorganisms that control pests) and biostimulants (biological products that focus on plant health rather than pest control).

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