The Future Of Fruit From The Ground Up

As the U.S. tree fruit industries and specialty crops in general enjoy some welcome and much-needed prosperity, it is exciting to see a more confident and aggressive approach to the future, including significant recapitalization and investment in new plantings. Even more exciting is the strategic approach many growers are now taking to this process.

Too often in the past, many would simply go after a generic scion sport, on whatever rootstock might be available, waiting until the last minute in spring (or even early summer) to throw the trees in the ground, and hope everything else worked out. Now, it is more common to actually pay attention to the venerable dictum: “Plan before you plant.”

This planning means talking to the packinghouse and marketing folks to ascertain if they perceive a place for a given scion cultivar. If so, do you have access to an acceptable site? That’s getting harder to do and it’ll probably be a replant situation. Will you be able to produce acceptable yields with the requisite quality? Can you obtain the scion on the right dwarfing rootstock? Do the genetics fit your labor resources, cultural practices, and harvest logistics? A range of familiar, and devilish, details will largely determine the block’s ability to achieve rapid, consistent, commercial production: appropriate establishment techniques, planting density, row orientation and distance, irrigation, tree support, tree training, and crop protection. It is encouraging that many are now considering the adaptability of the planting to mechanical assist or robotic handling of routine orchard tasks.

An ever-increasing array of scion genotypes is available in most tree fruit (sorry, pears, not yet) and even some exciting new rootstocks. Unfortunately, the best combinations are not currently available in sufficient quantity, as nurseries and in-house propagation efforts are struggling to catch up with this demand. Additionally, high per-tree costs are often a barrier, as well as insufficient evaluation data on performance in specific sites to reliably predict performance.

Decisions, Decisions

The good news in scion genotypes is a hugely expanded array of choices, but that’s the bad news too! Which to choose? Are we overplanted in Gala yet? Granny Smith? Could it be true that the market for Red Delicious has steadied and is even ready for some new blocks? What about the managed varieties? Worth the price? Reckless gamble or the next big thing?

Given the risks and costs of new plantings, it is more critical than ever that growers employ horticultural practices that optimize per-unit production efficiencies. Luckily, our researchers, Extension educators, and progressive growers have provided abundant, relevant, and reliable information presented repeatedly at fruit schools, workshops, and Extension meetings every winter. Follow their advice before planting, at planting, and after planning. Keep learning about the latest research. In my next few columns, I expect to more specifically describe some of that research and emerging technology that will inform our horticultural practices.

The point in this column, though, is to draw attention to what I consider the single most important technology as we reinvest in new plantings — the genetics of the scion-rootstock combination. The potential quantity and quality of that planting, in whatever production environment, will never exceed the capacity of its genetics. In many U.S. tree fruit production areas, growers struggle with scions and rootstocks that were bred in other environments and not thoroughly tested before commercial introduction.

It is a tribute to the horticultural and management skills of our growers and researchers that we succeed as well as we do with our current scion/rootstock combinations. Imagine if these horticultural and management skills were applied to improved genetic materials! That is exactly what the Pacific Northwest is imagining as we invest in genomics, genetics, and breeding programs to develop scion and rootstock combinations that optimize the productivity, quality, and affordability of the plant materials in our future orchards. Next time I will focus on some breathtaking recent advances in this area, not the least of which is the recently initiated sequencing of the apple genome.