Apple growers across Northern New England say they probably won't see last year's volume across all varieties, but they're expecting a decent crop as the season kicks off with early cultivars.
"You know we're always at the mercy of mother nature, " laughs Emily Holmes of Maine-ly Apples in Dixmont. The 12 acre farm in Central Maine opened its pick-your-own operations this weekend, with Paula Reds, an early strain of New England's iconic Macintosh, ready to pluck.
But with Maine's wildcard weather, it doesn't pay to grow just one or two varieties, she says.
"We have 40 different varieties and we have varieties that a lot of other orchards in the area don't have. So, some of those did really, really well. And some just not quite as well."
Mid-winter thaws, followed by extended periods in the deep freeze did some apple varieties no favors, says Holmes, but the losses will likely be made up by hardy varieties that escaped winter injury.
The story is similar elsewhere in New England.
"We had some cold damage from the harsh winter," says Bill Suhr of Champlain Orchards in Shoreham, Vermont, "And that affected some of our orchards that are in lower-lying areas, so we have a short crop in some blocks but overall we have, I think, a fairly full crop."
And the balance of that, says Suhr, is a summer that, so far, is cooperating.
"It's been a cooler summer, so the quality of the fruit, the color is good." Cooler evenings help contribute to improved fruit color, says Suhr. "And we've had plenty of sun and plenty of water so we're in very good shape at the moment."
But just as treacherous as winter weather, can be the late summer storms that pelt fruit with hail, and winds that send apples sailing from the trees, says Holmes at Maine-ly Apples. So far, the orchard has been lucky, but she's not making any final tallies yet.
"I mean, I could tell you this certain variety is going to have a ton," says Holmes, "and then we could get an awful storm coming through here and that would really change things. So we're really on a week to week basis of how we're looking."
At Gould Hill Farm in Contoocook, New Hampshire, owner Tim Bassett grows 80 varieties. "We're down maybe ten, fifteen per cent," he says "But nothing terrible."
In New England, Massachusetts leads in apple production, followed by Vermont. Roughly one of every four apples produced in the US will be exported, with a combined value of more than $1 billion dollars.
But most of Maine's apples will not leave the state, says Holmes. "I think we do have, per capita, a lot of orchards, but I don't think we're necessarily supplying big huge retail chains like New York State is or Washington State is." The trend she says is in keeping with a strong local foods movement and a rise in small scale agriculture in the state.
Across the country, the US apple crop is expected to be the third largest on record, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, with a haul of 260 million bushels or more predicted.
