Apple season faring better than expected in Central Virginia

By Justin Faulconer

Published: October 16, 2008

Tommy Fitzgerald feared the drought might cripple his apple yield this year.

 
The 38th annual Amherst County Apple Harvest Festival will be held this weekend at Amherst County High School, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

But additional precipitation in September did more than enough to help the fruit at his Nelson County orchard. “The good Lord” came through, he said, and made this year’s harvest among the best he’s had.

Meanwhile, Barry Arrington’s third-generation family orchard in Bedford County didn’t fare as well. He said July storms badly damaged this season’s apples.

“The hail was so jagged it was like broken glass,” Arrington said. “Farming hasn’t been good here the last few years.”

Even with the storms, Bedford’s apple harvest was better overall this year than in 2007, said Scott Baker, the county’s extension agent. A spring freeze severely affected the trees a year ago, he said.

“They are very sensitive to frost at that part of the season,” Baker said. “It caused a significant amount of bud kill. We did not have that problem this year.”

Livestock agriculture is the county’s main economic engine in farming, but Baker said apple production holds its own.

Two years ago, the county ranked ninth in Virginia in overall production with close to 50,000 boxes.

Along with challenges in the weather, he said orchardists are also hit like other producers with higher costs of doing business, particularly in fuel and fertilizer.

“The crop looks pretty good and they’re doing the best they can,” said Baker.

Fitzgerald also experienced his own hardships with weather in 2007. He faced a major loss in apples due to hail and severe burn, he said.

Arrington said he typically seeks out assistance through programs the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides to farmers who have been negatively impacted. There isn’t much else that can be done, he said, when at nature’s mercy.

“That’s the life of a farmer.”

Last year, apples in Virginia produced $23.7 million in cash receipts, despite the losses many orchardists faced from the spring freeze. In 2006, the cash receipts were $22 million.

Spencer Neale, a commodity and marketing specialist with the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, attributed the growth to demand.

“Right now we have strong demand for the product, but we have a short supply,” said Neale. “We’re exporting more products.”

Virginia ranks sixth nationally in apple production. Neale said apples the state produced this year were “fair” and improved from the previous harvest.

“It wasn’t a record year,” he said, “but it wasn’t a bad year.”