Sowing the Seeds for Apple Grower of the Year Award
May 10, 2021 We’ve been proud to present the American Fruit GrowerSM Apple Grower of the Year Award for the last 32 years. And if Greg Clarke is accurate in his assessment of young growers, we’ll be doing so for at least another 32 years.
Clarke represents Valent U.S.A. as a Senior Field Development Specialist, based in Pennsylvania. Valent has sponsored the Apple Grower of the Year award since 2015 and is again doing so this year.
With 29 years of industry experience, Clarke has as good a read as anyone on the apple-growing community. He’s worked hand in hand with many of our award winners, including 2020 recipient Robert Black of Catoctin Mountain Orchard in Maryland. He knows what it takes to become a leader like Black. And best of all, he is optimistic that a new generation of trailblazers is ready to step up.
If it hasn’t already.
“What I have noticed over the last eight to 10 years is this new group of young men and women at the meetings and fully engaged in the orchards,” Clarke told American Fruit Grower Editor David Eddy after last year’s awards ceremony.
These are the sons and daughters of the growers with whom Clarke has worked his entire career. “They are bright, hard-working, and innovative. They seem very well connected by texts, Twitter, and other means to share information,” he said.
Perhaps you know of such individuals. Growers ready to break out nationally. “Diaper dandies,” as college basketball analyst Dick Vitale affectionately calls the most promising of freshmen players.
If so, please nominate one of them for this year’s Apple Grower of the Year. You can do so by clicking here.
The deadline to nominate is May 21. The winner will be announced Aug. 19 in conjunction with USApple’s annual Outlook 2021 conference.
Of course, there are no age restrictions to the award. Every apple grower in the U.S. — except the previous 32 winners — is eligible. At the same time, by promoting these young growers and sharing their stories, “it lifts the entire industry,” according to Clarke.
“I really think the industry is in good hands,” he said. “And I’m excited to see this next generation coming up.
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