The 2015 Scene: American and Western Fruit Grower’s New Board On What You’ll Be Facing
January 6, 2015 It’s a new year – what issues are going to have an impact on your business in 2015? To get the most comprehensive understanding of what fruit growers around the nation are facing now – and will face in the future – each January, we ask industry leaders about what issues growers will face in the coming year. This year we thought it appropriate to ask some of our board members.
In addition to our new look, we have also revamped American and Western Fruit Grower’s Editorial Advisory Board for the coming year. We’re expanding the board so we have more representation from all over this great nation, increasing the scope not only geographically but in the regularity of the crops we cover. And let’s face it, new blood and a fresh perspective is, well, refreshing.
We couldn’t possibly cover all these experts had to say about your region or your crop, but here is a sampling of their responses.
Barry Bedwell, President, California Fresh Fruit Association, on Immigration Reform: The need for a legal and stable workforce for American fruit producers remains a top priority. Frustrations continue as earnest attempts to secure passage of a comprehensive immigration package have been met with resistance in the House and slowed by electoral politics. However, at the end of November the President moved ahead with an Executive action that could have a significant impact on production agriculture. But in the final analysis, the permanent solution in regard to immigration reform must be met through the legislative process.
Jon Clements, University of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor, aka “Mr. Honeycrisp,” on the Big 2014-15 Apple Crop: The top 
issue facing apple growers this year is the unknown challenges and the pitfalls of marketing a large apple crop. Consider the recent Seattle dockworkers strike, which has slowed exports in a year of a record-breaking apple crop in Washington state. The global economy has expanded the apple business dramatically, but volatility in that market and/or infrastructure issues could make a big impact on U.S orchardists. And of course China — is it possible we could get out of the apple growing business and let China supply all our apples? It has happened in the electronics industry.
Nat DiBuduo, President & CEO, Allied Grape Growers (CA), on Government Regulation: What’s the top issue facing fruit growers that no one’s talking about, that’s flying under the radar, in 2015? I think that question is best answered by the bureaucrats and legislators, because they are who I fear the most, coming up with some other new regulation or legislation that’s going to save the world and the environment while slowly killing the agriculture industry for the sake of some intangible or irrelevant endangered species or the carbon footprint of agriculture while not acknowledging plants create oxygen.
David Doll, University of California Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor, aka “The Almond Doctor,” on the Drought: There are questions about the 
lasting impacts on production and water quality and quantity. Many issues are wrapped around this even if a “normal” winter’s precipitation is received, including yield impacts from increasing salinity, unsecure water allocations, and groundwater insecurities. There are concerns over the impact on bloom, crop set, the quantity available for the growing season, and, of course, new groundwater regulations.
Desmond O’Rourke, Publisher, World Apple Report, on Apple Consumption: In the past, the heaviest purchasers and users of fresh apples and of many other fresh fruits were intact young and middle-aged married households with above-average incomes and one or more children. That is less and less the norm in American households.
The marriage rate has dropped by more than 20% since the 1960s. Less than half of households now consist of married couples. Less than 40% of households have two earners, while the share of households made up of retirees, one earner, or no earners continues to rise. There are 3 million more young adults now living with their parents than there were in 2007. These trends have contributed to falling median household incomes.
The traditional sequence of (1) getting an education, (2) getting a job, (3) getting married, and (4) having children, allowed most children to be brought up in secure, comfortable homes, and to guided eating habits. Today, 40% of children are being born to single mothers who often lack education, jobs or stable partners.
The fruit industry faces a monumental task in (1) understanding these dramatically changed household structures and family dynamics, (2) cataloging their effects on consumers’ purchasing and eating decisions, and (3) figuring out how to adapt their products and marketing approaches to woo these new kinds of households.
Nathan Milburn, Milburn Orchards, Elkton, MD, on Club Varieties: The top issue for people in my local region — the tri-state area of Delaware, Maryland, 
and Pennsylvania — is club varieties. As good as club varieties are, there’s only room for so many of them. A lot of guys aren’t going to make it if they don’t let us grow club varieties. Honeycrisp is only as good as we’ve made it. I just worry that they’re not going to make as many open releases in the next 10 to 20 years and that’s going to hurt us.
Kevin Moffitt, President & CEO, Pear Bureau Northwest, on the Russian Embargo: The Russian embargo on U.S. pears and many others crops has hurt export markets. Pear growers export about 35% of the fresh crop and Russia was the third largest export market before the embargo. This year our crop was smaller than last year, but if the embargo continues through 2015 it could well have a major impact if we harvest a huge crop next season. This year’s port strikes have also been a major issue for exports and could create havoc if they continue or return in 2015.
There is a lot of upside in the pear industry as well, including the fact that world’s fresh pear supply outside of China isn’t growing and EU production is actually slowly shrinking. At the same time, the world’s middle classes are expanding rapidly, opening the doors to exports. Grower returns have been trending upward for the past 8 to 10 years.
Hannah Burrack, Extension Entomologist, North Carolina State University, on Southeast Berries: Blackberries are one of my favorite crops to work on,
and they grow very well in the southeastern United States, producing good yields of large fruit at a time of year when other parts of the country are not. One of the most challenging issues facing blackberry growers is increasingly inconsistent weather. The last several years have fluctuated from severe drought to incessant rain. Frequent harvest and thorough sanitation are crucial to producing quality blackberries, but the heavy rainfall experienced last year made scheduling picking and making necessary pesticide applications to manage spotted wing drosophila incredibly challenging. High tunnels are one means of managing this unpredictability, but the high initial cost of tunnels makes them a difficult investment for many growers.
Mario Miranda Sazo, Extension Specialist, Cornell Cooperative Extension, on Climate Change: There are many growers that are still non-believers in climate change. Future adaptation to climate change or to severe weather events will be needed. Some work needs to be done in educating the U.S. fruit growing community about climate change, because many don’t believe it. In my opinion, U.S. fruit growers don’t seem to be as concerned about extreme weather events — perhaps because they have to deal with them regularly. Part of the core of fruit growing is that there are lots of things to worry about, and growers are used to adapting to a lot of things. Since extremes are not common, it takes a longer time to really document changes in frequency.
One extreme was the spring of 2012 when it was so warm in March that some apple varieties actually bloomed — five weeks ahead of normal. Unfortunately, those apples were severely harmed by normal cold temperatures in April. I believe that the warming winters are predicted to lead to more such incidents. The same phenomena occurred in South Tyrol, Italy in 2012. In general, these “changes” are occurring at a faster rate for the European fruit community than here in America.
Nikki Rothwell, District Horticulturist, Michigan State University Cooperative Extension, on Global Competition: I was fortunate to visit Italy with the IFTA
group a few weeks ago, and we toured lots of high-density orchards and a super-modern packing house. It is always good to see how people are doing things in other parts of the world, and think about how we need to be sure our growers are always on the cutting edge. The packing facility was very automated and impressive, and this type of technology is critical to the success of an industry.
The other piece that was interesting was the Italian export markets to Russia, and the influence of politics on the trade of food, in this case apples. Since Italy cannot now ship into Russia, there were conversations as to whether if Italian apples would be moved into U.S. markets. Whether or not this situation will come to be, it really made me think of how connected we are globally and how situations not related to agriculture can so greatly influence markets and the economics of agriculture.
Win Cowgill, Area Fruit Agent, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, on Invasive Species: Fruit growers in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast will continue to see extreme pressure from new invasive insects. For small fruits, especially blueberries and brambles, it’s spotted wing drosophila. For tree fruit, especially apples and Asian pears, it is brown marmorated stink bug. The newest one found in Pennsylvania is the invasive insect species, spotted lanternfly, (Lycorna delicatula). It remains to be seen how much of a problem it will be in 2015, but it’s a caution to grape and tree fruit growers. ●
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