Category Archives: Apples and Other Fruit

Check out new organic research projects, dairy supply management policy research

The UW Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems is revamping its web site and it has news to share!

  • The 2021 Organic Report is out!
  • Four new organic projects are funded in the coming year!
  • Dairy supply management research – including information specific for graziers – is available as a report, a video, and coming soon – a farmer friendly app!
  • We are looking for cover crop farmers interested in sharing their experiences in a citizen science project!
  • This year’s Great Lakes Apple Crunch is gearing up for October!

All these stories can be found on the front page. The web site is far from finished – this is just a taste of what is soon to come!

Organic Strawberry Production

UW-Madison fruit horticulturist Amaya Atucha is working with colleagues at the University of Minnesota to determine interest in adopting/integrating day-neutral strawberries into pre-existing production systems.

This brief survey is intended for specialty crop producers in the upper Midwest using organic practices (certified or not). This survey will take less than 5 min to complete and you can choose to end the survey at any time.

Link to the survey:

https://umn.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9SOoAZIYBetBPsV

Drop apples

Did you know that if you intend to make hard, fermented cider from apples, you may use drops? As a grower, you will need to provide buyers with written notification that you are selling them drops. As a buyer, you need to give the grower written notification that you intend to process and ferment the fruit. Check out this drop picker, used in Serbia. You can make it yourself, and it is sized for small orchards. A labor saver, but process the apples ASAP! Please hit the link directly so they see your interest: https://serbiaorganica.info/en/apple-picker/

Discovering the world of wines

Want to learn about 
WINE and
WINEMAKING? 

University of Wisconsin – Madison HORT 375.001-Discovering the World of Wines and Vines (21+ only; 2 credits) 

THIS SUMMER 2018 (6/18 – 8/12)

Moore Hall room 128 MW 5:00-7:30 pm

Open to students and the general public!

Contact info: Dr. Amaya Atucha  atucha@wisc.edu
Enrollment info: kjones26@wisc.edu

Register now for the 4th Annual 2017 Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch!

Are you looking for an easy way to celebrate Farm to School Month, support your local farmers, and have a good reason to party?! Look no further than the Great Lakes Great Apple Crunch on Thursday, October 12. This fun, easy, and flexible event encourages you to purchase local apples and ‘Crunch’ into them at the same time with over one million other Crunchers across the region. We already have 250,000 Crunchers registered at over 700 different sites in Wisconsin, and we hope that you will join us! Register today to help us keep track of our #OneMillionCrunch goal. When you register you get a copy of the Crunch Guide to help you source local apples and plan your event, and you can get FREE CRUNCH STICKERS (sticker deadline October 2)! Everyone at K-12 schools, early care centers, farms, hospitals, agencies, offices, non-profits and more is encouraged to participate. Find more information and registration at the links below, or contact Vanessa Herald (vherald@wisc.edu) with any questions.
Website & Registration: www.cias.wisc.edu/applecrunch
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/greatlakesgreatapplecrunch

AppleTalk 2017

AppleTalk: Where Apple Growers Share IPM Ideas                   Now is the time to register for AppleTalk.

We have scheduled a special AppleTalk call with Amaya Atucha, University of Wisconsin Horticulture, to discuss tree phenology and winter injury, breaking dormancy, and nutrition needs for trees. We will also discuss green tip disease management on this call. Unlike our regular Tuesday calls, this call will be on Friday, March 31, to align with Amaya’s availability. The regular AppleTalk season will begin sometime in late April on our regular Tuesday schedule.

What’s new for 2017?

  • 18 conference calls to accommodate a longer season.
  • Registration is now online.
  • AppleTalk podcast. We need your help on this one. The available conference-call services offer either a stream that requires a flash player (not smart phone compatible) or generates a large media file which has to be downloaded. Both of these options are not friendly for smart phones. We are investigating low-cost opportunities that could allow us to take the downloaded file and turn it into a podcast that could be streamed or downloaded. This is not our area of expertise and if you know of a good program or have some ideas, let us know! This seems to be an area where the conference-call technology has not caught up with the times.
  • 2017 fees are set at $150. When AppleTalk began in 2006 it was sustained through several major grants from the US EPA and USDA. Sacia Orchards helped us meet our budget for the last two seasons. Please thank them if you see them. We anticipate this modest increase and the online registration will secure the budget we need to keep improving the quality of AppleTalk and the content we deliver to you. This business expense pays for itself many times over – invest in your management.

2016 AppleTalk participation survey
https://ipminstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/332/2016/10/AppleTalk-2016-Survey-Responses.pdf

Please let us know if you have any questions, comments or concerns. We would love to hear from you. Please contact Peter Werts, pwerts@ipminstitute.org, (608) 232-1410 x1002 or Thomas Bernard, tbernard@ipminstitute.org.

Inside scoop for cider makers

slide01Hard cider webinar: Industry Survey Findings and Opportunities for Rural Development. Tuesday, Dec 6, 1:30est.

Matt Raboin, researcher – apple grower – cider maker, has some findings to share and would like to chat with you on the future of cider making. Please join us next Tuesday and invite your colleagues.

To join the call, go to: https://ncrcrd.adobeconnect.com/ncrcrd

For more information, go to: http://expeng.anr.msu.edu/…/…/133/Hard%20Cider%20Webinar.pdf

You asked, we researched…food transportation

Workshop: Freight innovations to optimize regional food resiliency

Register for the regional food freight workshop in Chicago here: https://uwccs.eventsair.com/61503dr/rffc

Tuesday January 5, 2016

 

Watching farm trucks pull into the Capital Square farmers market in Madison, WI can make one wonder how to get regional food to regional markets more efficiently. Driftless farm and food businesses, such as Driftless Organics, Morningside Orchard, 5th Season and Organic Valley work hard to figure out how to engage with green transportation options to get their products to Minneapolis, Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago. Logistics, labor regulations, congestion, docking arrangements make this all very complex.

In April, 2010 CIAS started convening Driftless Food and Farm meetings where food transportation was identified as a top issue, but there were few resources available to address this critical component to resilient agriculture and food systems. In 2011 -2012, we made important links to researchers in logistics and freight transportation. In February 2013, we hosted the first regional food supply chain gathering in LaCrosse, where more than 100 businesses, NGOs, and allies convened to think through transportation barriers and opportunities. In 2014, a research team representing multiple different aspects of the food supply chain and leaders in the field continued to investigate the nature of regional supply chains and look for leverage points to elegantly improve systems. We learned from other nascent regional efforts in the New England States and California, and noted innovations in the private sector. We want to share this with you.

This meeting provides an opportunity to consider systemic improvements for moving food from rural to urban areas in such a way that potentially can meet the needs of all stakeholders and address critical issues like GHG emissions and food access. Much like past meetings, this one is intended to bring practitioners together to share their experiences, observations, successes and lessons learned. The format highlights some speakers from the field to jumpstart our conversations and we expect that much of the work will happen during small group discussions, over lunch and beyond.

If you have a stake in moving food from farm to market, please register. We need you at the table. Please share news of the conference with your supply chain partners and encourage them to come. If we pull together, forward momentum is assured.

The venue has limited capacity, so please register early to ensure a spot. Some scholarships are available. Please contact Michelle Miller if you are interested in one. mmmille6 AT wisc.edu, 608-262-7135

For more information on the conference including speakers and format, as well as information on past meetings and reports on regional food freight, go to the page dedicated to that work on this web site – tabbed at the top right corner “Regional Food Freight”.

 

 

Aronia meeting March 19-21

The Midwest Aronia Association will be holding their 2015 conference, open to both members and non-members, in Moline, IL, March 19-21.  MAA focuses on education and communication.

The conference and other benefits of membership is not limited to those who have a common business interest in growing aronia.  Anyone who has an interest in learning about and promoting aronia as a socially and environmentally sustainable alternative can enjoy membership benefits for $25 annually.  Academic non-voting membership includes students, teachers, instructors, institutions and members of the general public at large.

To learn more about the mission of MAA, how to become a member, and details about the annual conference, please visit www.midwestaronia.org   With the conference location nearby, and the wide range of speaker topics, this would be a good time to consider participation in the MAA annual conference.