US (NC): Apples and berries growing industries
Those were the among the highlights of an update given to county commissioners last week by Mark Williams, executive director of Agribusiness Henderson County, an organization set up in 2011 to promote and grow the county's $400 million agricultural industry.
Despite last spring's devastated apple crop, Williams pointed to several optimistic signs for county growers.
Five processing plants are expected to open this year, he said, a grant-funded marketing effort will kick off soon and the county is well-situated geographically to take advantage of growing U.S. food demand.
The opening in August of Wright Foods — a new multimillion-dollar food processing plant in Troy that produces a squeezable packaged fruit product for Dole called "Squish'ems" — has helped drive up the price local farmers get for their apples by $2 per bushel, Williams told commissioners.
With the county producing roughly 3 million bushels, Williams said, that adds up to about a $6 million increase in economic impact since 2011.
"This company — if we allow them to, if we didn't try to serve these other markets — they would literally take every Golden Delicious that we could produce in this county," Williams said.
Blackberries and raspberries are another market that has been developing in the county, Williams said. Eight new farms have added 100 acres of berries in the past two years, generating about $50,000 per acre or the equivalent of $5 million in new farm revenues.
Source: blueridgenow.com
