In This Issue:
2001 Ohio Fruit Report
Loophole Closed on Concentrate Imports
Bayer Acquires Aventis CropScience
Terminal Wholesale Fruit Prices
Rainfall
October 1st still found much of the state with deficient moisture conditions. Only the Southwest District has received near or slightly above precipitation in 2001. Deficits in the rest of the state range from 1.6 to 9.2 inches. The Northeast and Eastern Hills districts are considered to be suffering severe drought, while the Central Hills district is enduring moderate drought.
General Insect Note
The multicolored Asian lady beetle has now been observed on apple, blueberry, grape, muskmelon, pear, peach, raspberry, sweet corn silk, and human skin. We can not discern whether fruit feeding is initiated as the primary contact.
Apple
Two generations of codling moth were observed with below threshold numbers in northern Ohio, while central Ohio reports three generations. Some orchards were monitored for Oriental fruit moth with weekly counts between 0 and 67. Overall, insect activity did not cause major damage. Scab pressures were light, and fire blight was scattered. Some pockets of fire blight were observed, but not with the severity of 2000. Based on Ohio's experiences with the fire blight epidemic of last year, growers should consider B9 rather than M9 or M26 for dwarfing rootstock. Apogee continues to look good in suppressing growth and twig blight in problematic blocks. Some growers mistook fire blight damage as collar rot.
Fruit size has been adversely affected by drought condition. Harvesting is in full swing. Ripening dates varied from past years, with the observation that "Honeycrisp appears to need multiple harvests to get the best quality and it (harvest) is much earlier than first thought, around the end of Gala." An additional note involves the G16 rootstock. One grower reported a 95% tree loss of Jonathan on G16 in a block of 300 trees.
Peach
The 2001 Ohio peach crop was one of the largest in recent years. Dry weather in northern Ohio during July and August reduced fruit size where irrigation was not available. Harvesting has just recently been completed. Insect and disease activity was generally low.
Pear
A new pear cultivar is being released by OARDC in partnership with USDA. This cultivar is fire blight resistant, maturing later than Barlett. Presently, this pear has not been named - known only as #78.
Grapes
Yields of wine grapes are average, while American grape yields are much below average. Late spring cold temperatures were mentioned as a possible explanation. Disease pressures have been light.
Blackberry
"Great" yields in southern Oho were reported. Thornless blackberry continues to suffer winter injury in Ohio conditions. Damaged plants will break dormancy, look good, and then floricanes rapidly decline, while primocanes remain vigorous. The primocane condition indicates that root damage is not the cause.
Blueberry
Yields have been good throughout the state, with harvesting continuing in northern areas. Fruit size has been dependent upon available water, either natural or irrigation. Birds continue to be a major pest problem.
Raspberry
Summer reds and blacks yielded above average overall. Low insect and disease pressures were noted with the exception of the Japanese beetle, which continues to be a major challenge. Planting of brambles and blueberries in central Ohio continue to increase due to "consumer health awareness." Harvesting of fall reds is continuing with yields improving with recent rains. The raspberry crop south of U.S. 70 was reduced due to heavy rainfall during May, with phytophthora taking a heavy toll of plants in water-logged soils.
Strawberry
Like raspberries, the strawberry crop south of U.S. 70 was reduced due to heavy rainfall during May. The crop north of Rte. 70 was excellent, although some grey mold was found in some areas.
Contributors include Dave Ferree, Dick Funt, Mike Ellis, Diane Miller, Sandy Kuhn, Erik Draper, Ron Becker, and Ted Gastier.
On October 2, 2001 the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the application of anti-dumping duties of up to 52% on all forms of non-frozen Chinese apple juice concentrate, including semi-frozen concentrate. Their action closes a loophole that previously permitted suppliers and importers to circumvent the U.S. government's ruling against unfairly-priced imports.
In April, the U.S. apple industry requested that the Commerce Department expand its anti-dumping ruling to include semi-frozen concentrate. The request was aimed at preventing Chinese suppliers and some U.S. importers from illegally circumventing U.S. anti-dumping duties on non-frozen apple juice concentrate from China by chilling Chinese concentrate and shipping it duty-free to the United States.
U.S. Apple Association (USApple) reported that imports of so-called frozen apple juice concentrate from China increased a whopping 717% in the past year, from 82,000 single strength equivalent (SSE) gallons in June 2000 to 670,300 SSE gallons in June 2001. In addition, imports of so-called frozen concentrate imports from Canada, much of which was known to contain product of Chinese origin, 258% from 14,300 SSE gallons in June 2000 to 51,200 SSE gallons in June 2001.
The agricultural chemical world has gotten smaller again as Bayer announced it would buy Aventis CropScience. The acquisition price of $6.7 billion U.S. (EUR $7.25 billion), including the assumption of debt, makes this the largest acquisition in Bayer's history. The deal comes after two months of exclusive talks to buy the unit after Bayer edged out rivals BASF and Dow Chemical.
The new company will be called Bayer CropScience and have sales of $6-6.5 billion in 2001, putting the new company close behind the market leader Syngenta which has sales of $7 billion. The deal still has to be cleared by anti-trust authorities. The business will cover all agrochemical activities, as well as biotechnology and seeds. The StarLink GMO technology and all potential related liabilities will be excluded from the transaction and remain only with Aventis, so Bayer will not be liable for any potential claims.
Chicago http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/HX_FV010.txt
Detroit http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/DU_FV010.txt
Pittsburgh http://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/PS_FV010.txt
| Chicago | Detroit | Pittsburgh | |
| Apples, cartons, traypack | |||
| No grade marks Jonathan | MI 88s 16.00-18.00
100s 16.00-18.00 |
||
| No grade marks Paula Red | MI 88s 16.00
100s 14.00-16.00 |
||
| Apples, cartons, 12 3-lb filmbags | |||
| U.S. Fancy Empire | MI 2½" min. 10.00 | PA 2¼" min. 10.00-12.00 | |
| U.S. Fancy Gala | MI 2½" min. 11.00-12.00 | PA 2¼" min. 10.00-12.00 | |
| U.S. Fancy Golden Delicious | MI 2¼" up 11.00 | PA 11.25-12.50 | |
| U.S. Fancy Jonagold | PA 2¼" min. 10.00-12.00 | ||
| U.S. Fancy Paula Red | WI 2½" min. 10.50 | ||
| U.S. Fancy Jersey Mac | WI 2½" min. 10.50-11 | ||
| U.S. Fancy McIntosh | NY 2½" min. 10.50-11.50 | ||
| U.S. Fancy Red Delicious | MI 2¼" up 10.00 | PA 11.00-12.00 | |
| U.S. Fancy Rome | MI 2½" min. 11.00 | ||
| U.S. ExFancy Red Delicious | MI 2½" min. 10.00-11.00 | ||
| U.S. ExFancy Gala | MI 2½" min. 12.00-13.50 | ||
| U.S. ExFancy Gold Supreme | MI 2½" min. 10.00-12.00 | ||
| U.S. ExFancy Jonathan | MI 2½" min. 11.00-12.00 | ||
| Apples, bushel cartons, loose | |||
| U.S. Fancy Cortland | MI 2½" up 11.50-12.00 | ||
| U.S. Fancy Gala | MI 2¼" up 12.00 | MI 2¾" up 14.50-15.00
MI 3" min. 14.50-15.00 MI 2½" up 11.50-12.00 |
|
| U.S. Fancy Gold Supreme | MI 2¾" up 11.50-12.00
MI 3" min. 13.50-14.00 |
||
| U.S. Fancy Golden Delicious | IL 2¼" up 12.00
MI 2¼" up 13.00-14.00 |
MI 3" min. 10.00-11.00 | |
| U.S. Fancy Jonathan | MI 2¼" up 12.00 | ||
| U.S. Fancy McIntosh | MI 2¾" up 11.50-12.00
MI 3" min. 11.50-12.00 MI 2½" up 10.00 |
||
| U.S. Fancy Paula Red | IL 2¼" up 12.00 | ||
| Empire | PA 10.00-12.00 | ||
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 2001
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OSU Extension.
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