Trends in the New England Apple Industry 



Wesley R. Autio 



Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Massachusetts 



New England fruit growers produce 7.8 million 

 bushels of apples on 24,000 acres of land. Figure 1 

 shows the acreage planted to apples in each of the New 

 England states. The size of individual orchards is 

 generally larger in northern New England (ME, NH, 

 VT) than in southern New England (MA, RI, CT) 

 (Figure 2). In northern New England 75% of the crop 

 is grown for a wholesale market; whereas, only 47% of 

 the southern New England crop is sold wholesale 

 (Figure 3). 



In 1989 a survey was conducted to study the New 



Acres (Thousands) 



Figure 1. Total acreage of apple production in each 

 New England state. 



Average acreage per farm 



NH 



ME 



VT 



MA 



Figure 2. Average acreage per farm in apple pro- 

 duction. 



Percent wholesale 



62% for New England 



Figure 3. Percent of the annual production sold in 

 a wholesale market. 



England planting trends. (RI data are not included due 

 to insufficient returns.) Figure 4 shows the percentage 

 of each state's 1989 acreage planted before 1980, be- 

 tween 1980 and 1984, and between 1985 and 1989. The 

 least planting has been done in Maine, vnih only 18% of 



100 



80 



60 



40 



20 



Percent of total 



Year ot planting: 

 ^H Before 1980 

 ^S 1980-84 

 1966-89 



Figure 4. Percent of each state's total apple acre- 

 age planted before 1980, between 1980 and 1984, 

 and between 1985 and 1989. 



12 



FmU Notes, Fall, 1989 



