Tackling New Technology Part of the Territory for Pome Fruit Growers Today
Three Michigan apple growers have spent their previous one or two growing seasons experimenting with various crop load management technologies still in development, writes Thomas Skernivitz at Growing Produce. Since then they have relayed their experiences to fellow growers, first at the Great Lakes Expo, and later at the annual meeting of the International Fruit Tree Association — both in Grand Rapids, MI.
While Michigan State University (MSU) Extension has spent those years identifying and ground truthing the respective technologies, much work has been done by the trio of growers, according to now former MSU Apple Production Specialist Anna Wallis.
“These are the people that are brave enough to take this risk and push these technologies through the pipeline, knowing they’re probably not going to work the first time around, and having a big learning curve,” says Wallis, now the Fruit IPM Coordinator with the Cornell New York State IPM Program.
Jamie Kober, Riveridge Land Co., Sparta, MI; Outfield (drone/fruit mapping technology)
While traditional yield estimates arrive from hand counts of a small number of trees, the Outfield’s drone technology allows growers to survey whole orchards, quickly creating datasets that are tested and strengthened every time they scan. Targeted management and thinning is achieved using Outfield’s fruit mapping technology, which improves the chance of optimizing early fruit set to ensure on-spec harvests.
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