Fruit ICM News

In This Issue:

Calendar
The Fruit Growers News Online
Fall Bearing Raspberry Cultivars & Selections
Agricultural Change by Metropolitan Character In Ohio: 1978 to 1997
Wholesale Fruit Prices

Calendar

January 29-31, 2001: Indiana Horticultural Congress. For more information, contact Mario Morales at (765) 494-0342.

February 7-9, 2001: Ohio Fruit Growers Society Congress, in conjunction with the Ohio Vegetable and Potato Growers Association and Ohio Direct Marketing Association, in Toledo. Wednesday - general sessions, trade show opens, tree fruit marketing & cider sessions. Thursday - breakfast & society business meeting, tree fruit session, trade show, joint tree fruit and roadside marketing session, cider session, general sessions. Friday - tree fruit session, general sessions. More information will follow at a later date.

February 14-15, 2001: The National Farm Machinery Show & Championship Tractor Pulls, Louisville, Kentucky.

February 19 - March 4, 2001: New Zealand Fruit Tour Fully Subscribed: There has been a good response to the tour and all spots are filled.

The Fruit Growers News Online

Congress Approves $138 Million in Assistance for Apple Growers

The Senate gave final approval Wednesday, Oct. 18 to legislation that provides the nation's apple growers with $138 million in much-needed economic assistance. The final version of the $78 billion fiscal 2001 agriculture appropriations bill includes $100 million in assistance for market losses and $38 million for crop losses suffered by apple growers over the past two years.

The bill was approved by the House of Representatives on Oct. 11 and is now headed to the White House for President Clinton's expected signature.

The agriculture appropriations bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture to make payments totaling $100 million to apple producers in order to provide relief for the loss of markets. These losses were caused by a recent flood of unfairly-priced apple juice concentrate from China, by unfair trade barriers, and by the recent financial crisis throughout Asia. Growers will be eligible to receive market loss assistance payments on their first 1.6 million pounds of apple production, which roughly equates to 40,000 bushels.

Novartis Agribusiness to Sell Flint to Bayer AG

On Oct. 17 Novartis Agribusiness announced the sale of its worldwide Flint business to Bayer Crop Protection, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, for $760 million. Flint is a second-generation strobilurin fungicide with a broad spectrum of applications. For a discussion of strobilurins see Ohio Fruit ICM News March 31 edition.

No Plum Pox found in Michigan

All samples of fruit and nursery stock in Michigan have tested negative for the plum pox virus, according to Dan Wyant, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA). During the past five months MDA has collected and tested nearly 11,200 leaf samples from 34,600 peach, plum, nectarine, apricot, and cherry trees for the disease.

Processing Apple Prices

The Michigan Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Association (MACMA) is the legally-recognized entity that bargains with processors on behalf of its approximately 750 members. As of early September, five Michigan peeler companies - Peterson Farms, Morrison's, Mason County Fruit Packers, Northern Michigan Fruit, and Gerber Products had agreed on a minimum price for peelers. Five juice companies - Aseltine Cider, Mason County Fruit Packers, Indian Summer, Peterson Farms, and Gerber Products also agreed on the minimum price.

Minimum processing prices for growers in the Ridge area northwest of Grand Rapids are as follows:

• Northern Spy and Jonathan, 2 ½ inches and up, $10 a cwt.
• Golden Delicious and Idared, 2 ½ inches and up, $8.75 a cwt.
• Hard varieties, including Empire, 2 ½ inches and up, $8.25 a cwt.
• Soft varieties, 2 ½ inches and up, $6.75 a cwt.
• Straight loads of juice apples are $4.75 a cwt.
• Fruit under 2 ½ inches in peeler loads is $4.50 a cwt.

Processing prices from other production areas:

• Washington, processing prices are $3.00 a cwt. for juice and $4.00 a cwt. for peelers.
• New York growers who sell to Mott are reportedly being offered $4.00 a cwt. for juice.
• Pennsylvania, affected by extensive hail damage in some orchards, is also showing a Mott price of $4.00 a cwt. for juice, with peeler prices down from last year.
• Appalachian growers are being offered prices lower than 1999.
• Ontario juice price is $5.25 a cwt., up 50 cents from 1999.
• Quebec juice price is $5.30 a cwt. f.o.b./farm.

Fall Bearing Raspberry Cultivars and Selections

Overview: Primocane-fruiting or "fall bearing" red raspberries produce fruit on the current season's growth in the late summer. These are grown in a system where the fall fruiting canes are mechanically mowed in the late winter (March/April), after which new canes sucker from the crown. This system is much more labor efficient, as there are minimal or no trellising requirements and disease pressure is reduced, since all canes are removed each winter.

The typical harvest season extends from mid-August through frost. As with any crop, extending the harvest season can increase profit. Manipulation of cultural practices (floating row covers and tipping) and variety selection can be very effective in extending the primocane raspberry season, both earlier and later.

Primocane Varieties and Selections:

'Heritage' has been the standard cultivar for which this system was developed. It has good quality fruit, consistent production, and a long harvest season. It is adapted to PYO or commercial production, for fresh or processing. Limitations of 'Heritage' include its small fruit size and that it begins fruiting late in the summer.

'Caroline' is the newly released red primocane-fruiting variety from the cooperative MD/NJ/VA/WI Breeding Program. 'Caroline' has a long cone shape, is very cohesive, has large size, real flavor, and good shelf-life. In trials in New Jersey, 'Caroline' was over two weeks earlier, comparable or higher yielding, with 18% larger fruit size than 'Heritage'. It has good vegetative vigor with good suckering.

'Anne' is a new golden primocane-fruiting variety with cohesive conic shape, large fruit size, and very good flavor. It is slightly earlier than 'Heritage', but is low yielding.

'Polana' is an everbearing type of red raspberry that is up to three weeks earlier and has larger fruit size than 'Heritage'. The berry has good flavor and cohesiveness. Yields per acre are high in part because each auxiliary bud produces two fruiting laterals.

'Autumn Bliss' was selected in England for its fine-flavored, firm fruit; it is also resistant to powdery mildew. Performance in the East has been inconsistent. A new release, 'Autumn Briton' (as sib of Bliss), also starts earlier than 'Heritage' and has good potential. The fruit is large and firm, with good flavor, and the vegetative growth seems to be more consistent than 'Bliss'.

'Josephine' (JEF-F1) ('Amity' x 'Glen Isla' - 1989 cross) is a fall bearing red raspberry which was selected at Rutgers Cream Ridge. It is a sib of 'Anne' and has very large, cohesive fruit with great flavor. The fruit ripens with 'Heritage' and harvests over a long season. Again the selection is low-suckering, but production per cane is good. It was the best advanced selection in the 1998 and 1999 rep trials. Patent Pending.

MBT-F1 [IN-1 (DBF x 'Autumn Bliss') x 'Caroline'] is a very productive, early, primocane-fruiting red raspberry ('Caroline' season) with large (5+g) conic berries. It was the best flavored advanced selection in the 1998 rep trials; however, it showed high susceptibility to late season yellow rust.

NC-F1 [DBF-1 ('Amos H' x 'Titan') x 'Anne' - 1992 cross] is an extremely large (7+g) fruited primocane-fruiting red raspberry. The selection was made at Rutgers Cream Ridge for its large round-conic fruit, ripening in the fall season with 'Heritage'. The fruit are very flavorful and cohesive.

ND-F1 [DBF-I ('Amos H' x 'Titan') x 'Caroline' - 1993 cross) is another extremely large (7+g) fruiting primocane-fruiting red raspberry that was selected at Rutgers Cream Ridge. The selection has very large fruit ripening in the fall season with 'Heritage'. The fruit is very flavorful and cohesive, with a long-conic shape. It is expected that the fruit will be shippable.

NO-I [Golden Harvest' x 'Anne' - 1992 cross] is a very productive, medium-sized, early primocane-fruiting golden raspberry. It will probably be discarded due to less than acceptable fruit flavor.

Summary: Primocane-fruiting red raspberries fruit over a long period in the fall and can be very profitable in fresh market, U-pick, and processing markets. There now are a number of high quality varieties that can be utilized to extend the season. The cooperative breeding program has very promising materials in the pipeline, which are currently in tissue culture, and are available for testing or limited commercial plantings. For more information or to obtain plants for trial, please contact the author. (Source: Proceedings 2000, Missouri Small Fruit Conference)

Agricultural Change by Metropolitan Character in Ohio: 1978 to 1997

Ohio's Metropolitan Character and Population

• Ohio is the seventh most populous state, the 9^th most densely populated state, and nearly half of its land area (45 per cent) is within one of its fifteen metropolitan areas.
• The average population density of Ohio's metropolitan counties in 1990 was 506 persons per square mile, over five times the density of non-metropolitan Ohio counties with 90 persons per square mile.

• The number of farms in the state of Ohio declined 23 percent between 1978 and 1990.
• Since 1978, Ohio's land in farms has declined 10.7 percent.

Total Agricultural Sales: Crops and Livestock

• Agricultural sales from livestock and their products declined 40 percent from 1978 to 1997 (in 1997 dollars).
• Licking, Mahoning, and Lorain counties ranked 53^rd , 76^th, 94^th respectively, nationally, in direct sales to customers.

Agricultural sales from livestock and their products declined 40 percent from 1978 to 1997 (1997 dollars)

• Mercer, Darke, Wayne, and Licking counties accounted for 17.5 percent of the total value of Ohio's agricultural sales in 1997 and 33.0 percent of total livestock sales.

Emerging Features of Urban Agriculture

• A majority of Ohio farmers work off the farm and have primary occupations other than farming, regardless of county metropolitan character. About half of Ohio's farms have total sales less than $10,000.
• A small percentage, 15.7 percent, of Ohio farms in 1997 could be classified as large farms, with sales from $100,000 to $250,000, or large commercial farms, sales greater than $250,000.
• The number of Ohio farms with nursery and greenhouse sales has increased 79 percent since 1978. Lake and Lorain counties ranked in the top 50 counties nationally in terms of total nursery and green house sales in 1997.
• In some metropolitan areas of Ohio, particularly in the northeastern part of the state, more than 10 percent of the farms report some agricultural sales directly to consumers.

Conclusions

• As the amount of farmland adjacent to the edge of Ohio's large and small metropolitan cities continues to increase as a result of the expanding circumference of the urban area, agriculture will likely continue to experience changes. Sales from livestock and their products may continue to decline in the fringes of the metropolitan areas if these regions continue to experience substantial growth. Up to a point, total agricultural sales may be maintained despite the loss of some on-farm diversification (livestock) and fewer acres of farmland through the addition of higher value crops to the enterprise. But farmland is finite, and conversion to higher value crops can maintain sales levels only up to a point, beyond which farmland conversion may result in a more rapid loss of agricultural sales.
• While loss of farmland and the declining importance of livestock sales in the most urbanized areas may be a negative consequence of a growing urban environment, farm enterprises may realize new opportunities as a result of close proximity to large population centers. It appears that a growing number of metro farmers are taking advantage of urban market opportunities to either sell high value products (such as landscaping products from nurseries) or sell products directly to consumers.
• One question often missing from discussion of farmland preservation is the issue of farmer or farm enterprise preservation. These data suggest that farms in a metropolitan region may be organized and oriented differently than farms in nonmetropolitan Ohio. Farmland preservation efforts should account for some of these differences and may want to adapt strategies that are cognizant of this fact. If the farmland preservation resources available can only preserve small land areas in the locality, it may be helpful to understand the type of farming that these smaller areas can support. Otherwise the preserved area may simply end up as open space when the farmland reverts to other land uses (such as forests) because existing farm operators find the area too small to justify farming.

Important definitions

• Farm: any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year (1974 census definition).
• Metropolitan area: a concept for describing the existence of geographic regions containing a large population nucleus and the adjacent communities that have a high degree of economic and social integration with the core nucleus of the region.

Terminal Market Wholesale Fruit Prices
October 19, 2000

Ted W. Gastier
Extension Agent, Agriculture
Tree Fruit Team Coordinator
Ohio State University Extension Huron County
180 Milan Avenue
Norwalk, OH 44857
Phone: (419)668-8210
FAX: (419)663-4233
E-mail: gastier.1@osu.edu

Copyright © The Ohio State University 2000

All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status.

Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Adm. and Director, OSU Extension.

TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868