Well written Kevin! Win
Win Cowgill Co-Founder Apple-Crop Discussion List Editor Horticultural News Professor and Area Fruit Agent New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station Rutgers Cooperative Extension PO Box 2900 314 State Route 12, Bldg. 2 Flemington, NJ 08822-2900 Office 908-788-1339 Fax- 908-806-4735 Email: cowg...@njaes.rutgers.edu www.horticulturalnews.org/ www.virtualorchard.net/ http://virtualorchard.net/njfruitfocus/index.html Twitter @mrsuncrisp http://www.appletesters.net http://nc140.org On May 31, 2015, at 6:47 PM, Kevin A. Iungerman <k...@cornell.edu> wrote: > I thought the two pieces - the Honeycrisp story in Planet Money and Good > Fruit Grower - together provided a very good portrait of Honeycrisp - its > promise, its reality (a young apple's production heartaches as well market > returns), and most especially, its dramatic opening salvo representing a > far-reaching consumer taste/quality desire paradigm that continues to unfurl, > fundamentally reformatting the wholesale-apple-marketing-world. > > Apart from Honeycrisp's marketing bravado - being "explosively crisp" - it > really has been apple's "Big Bang" for producers and consumers and the > marvel of it all - enhanced by its propitious rescue - is that early-on the > entire phenomenon was that driven by many, many early consumers' first > taste-of-bite experience; there was no going back after that, neither for > those consumers nor the apple industry! > > (Much the same "aha" for some of us working seasonally at the Univ MN Hort > Station who knew where the MN 1711 tree was and how one might "chance" upon > a fortuitous "drop" and so became the changed - as were some early customers > to the Hort Station's apple sales barn in pre-history days prior to fame's > plucking the apple away for enhanced review.) > > Courtier got it right early on, as did some few of the folks I worked with > via Cornell Extension in Northeastern NY: there was something real novel > here: an apple people lined-for, one could make money growing it, and one > just tailor-made for cold growing regions like the Champlain (and of course > MN). > > Now where Planet Money may have missed the bin is on two counts that merit > broader telling to their audience. > > Despite great advances in genetic parentage, marker recognition, and and > essentially double-cropping of crosses courtesy of dual hemispheral-seasons > per year, apple breeding still requires devoted attention, resources, many > years of time, and a good deal of luck, to come with something especially > appealing for mass-marketing. Pricing must return both this front-end cost as > well as keep the people growing the fruit in business. Returns must support > both research and continued delivery of top-quality product, meaning not only > "that" apple but its entire chain of production cost. > > Secondly, real apple connoisseurs know that there is a second apple market, > one with hundreds of wonderfully- good, fresh eating apples to be had, > enjoyed in their respective seasons and growing locales - hence Dave > Bedford's happy encounter in his earlier years with those golden apples from > Michigan; there are so many more than David's golden apples. > > Where it is possible for consumers to connect with local orchards and every > manner of heirloom and novel newcomer at a particular apple's seasonal > moment, that is an apple eating experience second to none. Indeed, as with > craft breweries and cideries, it is my opinion that there is a parallel and > comparable chink coming to the works of big-box apple sales. > > For the present though, falling back upon the current store-bought scene, > thank heaven for the star-crossed "happen-stance" that gave rise to > Honeycrisp, and to Bedford and Luby for being the right people at the right > time and place to grab onto what nearly slipped through MN's hands. And > hurrah for the heave-ho of "one yellow, one green, one red"! > > Best regards, Kevin Iungerman. > >> Here's Richard Lehnert's 2012 Good Fruit Grower article on the story of >> Honeycrisp - http://www.goodfruit.com/last-bite-the-honeycrisp-explosion/ >> >> A different perspective, but not inconsistent with the NPR story as far as I >> can tell - >> >> All hail the unknown tomcat parent of Honeycrisp... >> >> D >> >> >> >> On May 30, 2015, at 7:50 AM, Jon Clements wrote: >> >>> How does it differ Bill? I thought the Planet Money report was well done. >>> >>> Jon >>> >>> On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 6:10 PM, Fleming, William <w...@montana.edu> wrote: >>> Not quite the same story that Goodfruit Grower told a few months ago. >>> >>> Bill Fleming >>> Montana State University >>> Western Ag Research Center >>> 580 Quast Lane >>> Corvallis, MT 59828 >>> 406-961-3025 >>> Cell- 406-529-2409 >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net >>> [mailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of David Doud >>> Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2015 10:04 AM >>> To: Apple-Crop >>> Subject: [apple-crop] NPR 'The Miracle Apple' >>> On 'Planet Money' today - Jacob Goldstein and Dan Charles spend 15 minutes >>> on the state of the apple industry and the Honeycrisp story - >>> >>> listen here: >>> http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/05/27/410085320/episode-627-the-miracle-apple >>> >>> David Doud >>> grower - Indiana >>> this crop looks really nice right now - >>> _______________________________________________ >>> apple-crop mailing list >>> apple-crop@virtualorchard.net >>> http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop >>> 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 >>> _______________________________________________ >>> apple-crop mailing list >>> apple-crop@virtualorchard.net >>> http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Jon Clements >>> aka 'Mr Honeycrisp' >>> UMass Cold Spring Orchard >>> 393 Sabin St. >>> Belchertown, MA 01007 >>> 413-478-7219 >>> umassfruit.com >>> _______________________________________________ >>> apple-crop mailing list >>> apple-crop@virtualorchard.net >>> http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> apple-crop mailing list >> apple-crop@virtualorchard.net >> http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop > > > -- > Kevin Iungerman > One Citizen > Glens Falls NY, Minneapolis, MN > email: k...@cornell.edu > (Cornell Retired) > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > apple-crop@virtualorchard.net > http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
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