Online Exclusive: Q&A With Roger Lamont, NYAG LLC

Roger Lamont, an apple grower in New York, is a member of NYAG LLC, a new formed by New York growers that aims to grow, pack, market, and sell new advanced apple varieties from Cornell University’s apple breeding program.

The editors of American/Western Fruit Grower recently sat down with Lamont to discuss the new varieties coming out of Cornell’s breeding program, how growers can get involved, and what the future may hold in terms of variety introductions.

Q: What are some of the misconceptions that need to be addressed when it comes to the new varieties from Cornell University’s breeding program?

Lamont: I think the big issue is who is allowed to grow them. That was my reason for getting involved in the program here in New York. We felt only the big commercial growers would be able to join most of the club programs. The average grower would be shut out. In New York, almost all of our growers are of average size. We also felt that in New York, not only the small growers would be left out, but the state as a whole would suffer by not having access to new varieties.

We are used to having new varieties here since we have Cornell’s breeding program located in the center of the state. Our whole premise on starting NYAG LLC was that we would include all apple growers in New York state who were interested in joining. All would have access to these two varieties and first chance at anything new coming from our sponsored research at Cornell. That’s the basic premise. We feel that it avoids a potential lawsuit as has happened in other areas. We’re comfortable with our situation.

Q: What feedback have you received from growers in New York about this program?

Lamont: We think it’s excellent. We had developed a business plan to be eligible to negotiate for the licenses of these varieties. We were able to sign up the growers, with a business plan of 1000 acres for the two varieties. Membership is $250 an acre. We have the working capital to move forward with commercialization of these two varieties. We feel we have a majority of the commercial growers in the state involved.

Q: How did you inform apple growers of this program?

Lamont: Every apple grower that is registered with New York State received a mailing from us at least once, and they received other updates as well. We went out of our way to include everyone. We put it in the Core Report (the state’s apple newsletter), held public meetings, and called neighboring growers who hadn’t responded to make sure they understood what the program was about. Some growers had good reasons for not getting involved, for example if the variety didn’t fit their program. There’s a lot of unknowns in varieties, whether they are managed or open selections. We did our best to get everyone included.

Q: What are some of the future benefits of managed varieties such as those from Cornell?

Lamont: I like to compare it to the introduction of Empire in the 60s. It wasn’t widely planted until the 70s and early 80s. If a variety today isn’t promoted or commercialized, it takes a lot of time to catch on. A lot of good varieties have never caught on due to lack of promotion. We’re looking to ID a premium variety and do the promotion and marketing, and to sell it at a profitable price for the grower. We also want to make sure they are not overplanted, like we think Empire was. Those factors should ensure profitability for the grower for the life of the planting.

Q: For those growers in states without a breeding program, or those not connected to a managed variety, where does the future lie for them?

Lamont: I think you’ll see consolidation in the breeding industry, or rather an alignment of territories so that all the fruit growing regions are covered. That’s my hope, that someday everyone would have access to some of the new varieties. Each region would have their own strong point.

Our other concern is if something happens to our breeding program at Cornell. Washington apples are not likely to be adaptable for the Northeast. We don’t have the long season for a Granny Smith or Braeburn. We’d be vulnerable if we had to rely on New Zealand or Washington for new varieties. Cornell is like any other public university, their budgets ore strained. They need to have some source of private funding. That’s the other part of this coin where managed varieties come in. If we do our job right, they win, we win, the growers win, and the consumer gets a premium product. That’s our goal.