At the start of October, Okanagan Specialty Fruits (OSF) invited ten industry journalists and bloggers on a tour of some of the company's apple orchards in eastern Washington. The sun was out and temperatures were pleasant for the three days the tours were conducted while visitors got the chance to check out some of the company's orchards as well as other facilities.
"The orchard tour took place from October 1st-3rd and participants were able to witness various stages of an apple tree’s growth, participate in educational seminars, and eat some tasty meals featuring Arctic® apples of course," said Neal Carter, President and Co-Founder of Okanagan Specialty Fruits. "Mother Nature spoiled us! It was the perfect fall day for a walk through the orchards and to have an outdoor picnic right on site. Participants traveled to two of the three commercial orchards we have in eastern Washington, where they were able to learn about modern apple growing techniques and see first-hand some of the technology on our orchards that helps us grow Arctic® apples in a sustainable way."
Goldens and Granny Smiths on show
The company currently have Arctic Goldens and Arctic Granny Smiths in commercial production and the tour passed through these orchards. They are currently between harvests, with Goldens already picked for the year, while the Granny Smiths are almost ready.
Neal Carter (background) leads the group
"Participants were able to see where both our Arctic® Goldens and Arctic® Grannys are grown," Carter shared. "The harvest of our Arctic® Goldens was completed in late September. We’ve opted to pick our Arctic® Grannys a bit later to assure that they can get to a perfect level of sweet and tart so it will be their turn soon! We were also very excited to get our newest non-browning apple variety, Arctic® Fuji’s, planted in the ground this year."
After passing through the two orchards, tour guests were invited to see Okanagan Specialty Fruits' nursery, before also passing by the site for the company's new all-in-one facility. "Besides visiting our orchards, participants were also able to visit a nursery where they learned more about how apple trees are reproduced," Carter said. "They were also able to drive by the future site of our own centralized fruit receiving, storage, processing, packing and shipping facility, which upon completion will be close to a million square feet."
Education and transparency the initiative for tours
Okanagan Specialty Fruits apples ability to remain non-browning is the result of decades of research and biotechnology. According to Carter, there is a lot of misinformation surrounding the technology and as a result, consumers are interested in learning more about how the apples are grown as well as how safe they are to eat. He said that tours like these are one of the ways in which education can de-mystify the process. In fact, Carter noted that education and transparency are one of the core initiatives of the company.
Carter says education and transparency are one of the core initiatives of the company.
"We’ve found through our experiences that education about the science and safety behind our apples and experiencing the unparalleled taste experience that our non-browning Arctic® apples offers first-hand is valuable in increasing understanding about the benefits biotechnology can provide throughout the supply chain," Carter noted, adding that the feedback from the guests was extremely positive. "They appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the industry, our company, and biotechnology as a whole. It’s definitely a valuable initiative that we’ll look at doing again in the future. If everyone can walk away learning something new we know it’s worth it."
He concluded by sharing that one of the highlights of the tour was the reaction from the tour guests. Some of the participants had visited apple orchards before, but Carter noted how impressed they were with the company's orchards and facilities. "The participants noted how other orchards were nothing like ours and had no idea about the scale of our expansion plans. We’re extremely proud of the way we grow our trees and the state-of-the art technology we employ. I think our attention to every single detail was evident to those on the tour and hearing all their great questions was a rewarding experience for me."
For more information:
Denise Everett
Okanagan Specialty Fruits
Tel: +1 (250) 404-0101
media@okspecialtyfruits.com
www.okspecialtyfruits.com