Growing Innovations in the Fruit Industry
Growing Innovations in the Fruit Industry
Length: 00:05:39 | Daniel Weber, Ph.D., Donald Seifrit
The Extension tree fruit team focuses educational outreach and applied research on three industry priorities:
- Bringing in a next generation of growers from diverse backgrounds;
- Retooling orchards with innovative systems and technologies
- Producing high quality fruit using sustainable management practices.
The goal is to ensure a production-to-consumer system that is environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable.
- I was a part of the initial group of the Young Grower Alliance.
We started to have meetings just that were educationally based and learn how to come back and really start to farm.
That was the founding of it all.
(inspirational music)
- [Narrator] The Extension Tree Fruit Team focuses on educational outreach and applied research on three industry priorities: bringing in a next generation of growers from diverse backgrounds, retooling orchards with innovative systems and technologies, and producing high quality fruit using sustainable management practices.
- PennState and Extension has really led the way for our family and our operation, but really it's made it possible through some research projects and grants that they've gotten for us to have real world, in the field demonstrations and training here right on our farm.
- PennState Extension is a huge resource that growers need to be using more often to see that how and what to do in the fruiting walls, or new systems, or planting systems that they're gonna be studying for us which is very important.
- A lot of people were really interested in the fact that this young group of people wanted to learn more and be involved.
It gave us a voice and it gave us a way to learn how to lead and how to be a part of leading the agricultural community.
- When I came back to the farm, I didn't realize there was other young growers that were wanting to do farming.
- You can come in and you can ask whatever question that you want to ask, and it gives you a comfort area to just learn, and to ask, and to be comfortable.
That has been very powerful.
(inspirational music)
- I wasn't sure initially if I was gonna come back to our farm, if I was gonna start another business, or maybe get experience in some other form of agriculture and bring that experience back.
And so, through YGA and transition into ownership for me and now, working with my cousin Greg is coming back as well, and has transitioned into ownership as well.
- We work very closely with the PennState Extension.
That has been instrumental in developing both best practices and new processes, and technologies as well in both the orchard and in the pack house.
- When I took over the farm from my grandfather, it was all processing fruit and we could not actually pay the mortgage.
So we just took a little bit out of every single tour and brought it here, and pushed out processing fruit.
We are now taking everything to farmers' markets.
- A few years after we put in our first high density planting, we purchased our first labor platform.
It's a piece of equipment that allows for workers to be on both side, operate independently one from the other, and go up and down doing work throughout the tree canopy independent of the other.
- Extension puts forth such a strong and unified effort to keep the fruit free of our most serious pest here, which would be fungal pathogens followed by insect pests which can be a big problem when they take over, especially early in the season.
- Every event that I go to, there's always a good 50 people in attendance and there are always new people that I don't know.
We just continue to network and learn.
There's a solid generation coming in behind us.
(inspirational music)
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