Here’s Some Solid Advice the Fruit Industry Can Grow On

This year’s State of the Fruit and Nut Industry from American Fruit Grower provides a picture of the consensus trends and thoughts of more than 500 of our grower/subscribers, each of whom is owed our gratitude for responding. We’re confident you will find the information, advice, and opinions they provided to be interesting and useful in your own production.

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As is the case each year, our annual survey also targets industry suppliers as well as another group of invaluable individuals — the consultants, Extension agents, and researchers who guide the nation’s fruit growers on a consistent basis.

We asked several questions of this group, one of which is:

“If you could offer the average grower one piece of advice, what would it be?”

Here are their answers, several of which reflect the tough times that growers — like the rest of the country — are currently enduring:

• Never consider yourself the “average grower.” Be the best grower.

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• Know your product and how much you can produce.

• Try things on a limited basis. Test — don’t guess!

• Mechanize

• Find your own market. Don’t go through a packer-shipper/marketer.

• Be in the field every day. See what is happening there. Work alongside your employees. You cannot manage from your desktop computer without being on the ground. I am 80 years old and have never seen that work yet!

• Diversification

• Don’t wait on ordering your supplies.

• The systems and practices that worked 10 years ago are not going to work 10 years from now. Be willing to invest in new technologies, but don’t fall for hype.

• Keep in mind a five-year average on returns.

• Spray peptides

• Use the best molecules to stop postbloom fruit drop, greasy spot, and glomerella cingulate and lower huanglongbing (HLB) titer. Also, calcium and one or two applications of gibberellic acid a year.

• Find efficiencies

We also asked this group: “What excites you most about the fruit industry?” Most of the responses serve as an important reminder to retain your perspective and keep the big picture in mind:

• Continuous improvement attitude

• Producing American products

• Growing productive trees efficiently

• Young growers coming into the business

• We produce a tasty, very healthy part of the American diet

• Younger home growers

• Fresh demand is increasing

• New technology, new varieties, food as medicine

• New growing systems with labor efficiencies and reduced loss to pests and disease

• The fruit tastes so good!

• The folks that enjoy our products are so thankful

• Taste

• Taking action to get rid of some government regulations (non-USDA-related)

• Sustainability and automation

• We have alternatives and new findings that will overcome these problems

• The constant changes to become more efficient

Stay tuned this month as we will be releasing more results from this year’s State of the Fruit and Nut Industry survey.

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