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Commercial Fruit Production Changes in Oconee County
| Name | Howard Hiller | | Situation | Commercial apple producers in Oconee County and surrounding counties have been experiencing severe financial impacts on their commercial apple operations for the past several years. Increasing costs and complexity of equipment, chemicals and fertilizer along with competition from other states and nations have essentially eliminated our juice and most of our packed apple markets. Very few of our apples are being graded and packed and most are being sold at the growers roadside stands. The cider market is still strong, especially for fresh cider. There are safety concerns about this product and a few growers are buying pasteurized cider instead of making their own. Several growers are taking advantage of a company in nearby Georgia that will package products such as jams and jellies, fruit juice, etc. under the farm label. This has helped increase growers income somewhat. Several growers have expressed interest and started planting a few peach trees to supplement their farm income. | | Response | In an effort to assist growers to get involved with peaches, local apple/peach meetings were held in the spring. Here our peach specialist presented his research findings on varieties adaptable to our growing area. As a followup, summer peach field days were held at the Musser Fruit Farm so producers could look, see and taste some of the varieties recommended. White fleshed peaches were covered last year. At the March 2007 spring meeting, the newest releases of peaches were covered by our peach specialist, with several showing great promise for our growers. We have a summer tour scheduled for early August 2007 so our growers can see and taste some of these newest varieties. | | Impact | As a result of our efforts, our largest apple grower has just planted 200 trees to get started. One hundred percent of our active apple growers now have at least a small amount of peaches in the ground. We have also picked up two growers who had gotten out of the apple business but still had their farms. As a result, we now have 18 growers who are growing some number of peaches. So far we don't think we have reached the limit on how many peaches we can plant here in Oconee. One grower is marketing almost all of his crop in nearby Clayton GA where there is a large tourist market. |
Last update4/7/2008
This website is maintained by D Jason Caudill.
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