Washington apple producers learn from European counterparts
Washington’s certified organic fresh apple shipments—estimated at almost 10 million boxes for the 2015-16 season, could double by 2020, based on estimates of new orchard land becoming certified.
Producers visited Poland, Germany, Switzerland and France where they learned about their ability to compete globally in the conventional and organic apple markets.
Poland is the largest apple producing country in Europe. This year’s total crop is estimated at 3.75 million metric tons (equivalent to 206 million bushels), about the same as last year. That’s 30 percent of the total crop in the European Union.
Poland has 312 apple packing plants, most of them built since 2004 when the country became a member of the European Union. The EU offers subsidies for construction of packing houses and favours cooperatives, so many small growers have gone into business together. Poland also receives preferential treatment because of its status as an emerging economy
Although Poland has about 120,000 acres of apples under organic management, encouraged by EU subsidies for organic conversion, production is very limited. The country has skilled horticulturists and a similar climate to other parts of Western Europe, so organic production should be feasible, but many of the orchards are unmanaged and growers lack organic materials.
Also, there’s little demand for organic fruit within Poland. In other European markets, Polish organic apples would have to compete with those from Italy, which produces about 3.5 million boxes of organic apples annually.
The Altes Land apple-growing region, in Germany as 35,000 acres of apples, of which about 10 percent are organic. Germany as a whole has an estimated 12,000 acres of organic apples.
The average orchard in Altes Land is about 50 to 100 acres. All the packing plants had solar panels covering their roofs and were self-sufficient in power despite the often gloomy climate. Europe offers subsidies for using renewable energy sources.
An apple-growing region was visited in the southern Rhône Valley in France where growers were switching to low-input and ecological growing methods, a strategy that is negatively impacting production.
Yields were only about 25 bins per acre—half what they could have been. Hedgerows that had been planted to attract beneficial insects had reduced fruit damage by pests, but not to acceptable levels. Growers were still applying 30 to 35 sprays per season in organic orchards.
Even though Switzerland has a very small apple industry producing less than 8 million boxes, it makes a significant investment in research and extension. Ostenson and Granatstein visited the Swiss Research Institute of Organic Agriculture at Frick, which employs 100 people who focus exclusively on organic production.
Organic still looks like a good bet for Washington growers who are looking to diversify, Granatstein said, though the expected increase in organic production in Washington seems like a big increase for the market to digest.
Most production so far has gone to the domestic market and Canada. Of last season’s crop of 9.5 million boxes of organic apples, only 604,000 were exported, and 84 percent of those went to Canada.
