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Finding added value in wasted apples

A fruit marketer says there’s growing consumer demand for Honeycrisp apples, but about half of the crop never makes it to the fresh market.

Don Armock is President of Riveridge Produce Marketing in Sparta, Michigan, which markets more than a third of the apples grown in the state, “Sometimes less than 50 percent of the apples make it into a consumer package.  We’ve got a fairly expensive inventory of juice apples at times.”

While bringing a higher value on the fresh market, Honeycrisp apples are more prone to interior browning, easily damaged after harvest and susceptible to chilling injuries during storage which has caused millions of dollars of apples from ever entering the fresh market.

Armock tells Brownfield this year they’re building a processing facility to make their own apple cider to turn this waste product into something more.  “We’ll have a blend of cider that will be a tart fresh apple cider and we’ll also have a sweet tasting apple cider.”  He says Honeycrisp along with Fuji and Gala apples are among the most popular with consumers, and growers have spent the last few years renovating orchards to be more managed like vineyards to increase yields and improve the quality of the crop.

Armock expects about 70 percent of a normal apple harvest this year in the state after a May frost caused widespread damage.

Michigan is the second largest apple producer in the country with more than 11.3 million trees in production.

AUDIO: Interview with Don Armock

 

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