-10- 



OBSERVATIONS OF THE NEW YORK FRUIT INDUSTRY 



Warren C. Stiles, Associate Professor of Pomology- 

 Department of Pomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 



My association with the New York fruit industry began on July 

 1, 1980. Prior to that time, I had not seen the Lake Ontario region 

 and had only limited knowledge of the Hudson and Champlain Valley areas 

 During the last year considerable time was spent in learning the make- 

 up of the industry, observing current practices and conditions, and 

 analyzing strengths, problems, and needs for future development. 



The diversity of this industry in terms of crops, production 

 areas, and marketing systems must be recognized. Nationally the state 

 ranks second in the production of apples, grapes and tart cherries; 

 fourth in pears; and sixth in sweet cherries. In addition to these 

 crops, peaches, strawberries and raspberries and produced in commer- 

 cially important quantities along with smaller quantities of several 

 other fruits. A thorough examination of all aspects of these differ- 

 ent crops and their specific problems is beyond the scope of this 

 discussion. Therefore, we will concentrate on examining some aspects 

 of the apple industry. 



In perspective, the major apple producing regions are the Lake 

 Ontario region, Hudson Valley, and the Champlain Valley, with addi- 

 tional output from the Finger Lakes, Central New York and Long Island. 



Climatically, the Lake Ontario region is generally least subject 

 to temperature extremes. Soils in this region vary from deep well- 

 drained sands to somewhat poorly drained finer textured soils requir- 

 ing extensive drainage. This region has long been strongly oriented 

 toward production for processing. This will continue because of the 

 location of major processing facilities. However, there is increasing 

 interest in expanding the production of fresh market apples. Planting 

 of fresh market varieties is gaining momentum under both high-density 

 trellis systems and medium density free-standing systems. As older 

 orchards of varieties suited solely for processing are replaced, con- 

 sideration is being given to varieties such as Mcintosh, Delicious, 

 Empire, Idared, Golden Delicious and Rome Beauty. 



Rootstocks in new plantings include M.9 for trellises, M. 9/111 

 or M. 9/106 interstems, as well as 106, 111 and M.7. Many of the slowly 

 drained soils would be better matched to the use of M.13 if such trees 

 were available. 



1 

 Talk presented at the Annual Summer Meeting of the Massachusetts 

 Fruit Growers' Association, Inc., July 15, 1981. 



