The Nova Scotia Fruit Growers’ Association

Apple News

Celebrating 150 years of being original.

Volume 18, Issue 2 | April 2013 (p) 902.678.1093 |(f) 902.678.1567|(w) www.nsapples.com | (e) derith@nsapples.com | 32 Main Street, Blair House, Kentville, NS B4N 1J5

NSFGA Board of Directors Meeting

The April Board of Directors meeting is return-ing to evenings on Thursday, April 25 at 7pm in the Cornwallis Room of the Kentville Agri-culture Centre.

NSFGA Executive Committee Meeting

Tuesday, April 16 at 10am in Blair House.

NSFGA Annual Convention Committee Meeting Tuesday April 16, 9am, Blair House

THURSDAY APRIL 18TH

NSFGA PRODUCTION COMMITTEE

SPRING WORKSHOP** 8:30AM—Noon:

“Stone Fruit Pruning Systems”

(Meet at the Rob Peill Farm)

**Attend and received 5 Pesticide Recertification Credit Points.

_____________

SPRING MEETING** Waterville Fire Hall

7PM—9 PM:

**Attend and received 4 Pesticide Recertification Credit Points.

For the agendas go to www.nsapples.com

or pages 6 and 7 following.

A NSFGA Town Hall Type Meeting for All Tree Fruit Growers was held on April 4, 2013 at the Waterville Fire Hall. It was well attended with 67 people present: 35 NSFGA member farms were represented by 46 people, 11 Non member farms, 7 industry stakeholders and the NSFGA staff members.

ASSOCIATION NEWS

IFP Committee Report:

Rob Smith, IFP Committee Chair, reports the following Workshops are in the planning stag-es:

pre-bloom pest management

calyx pests

managing apple maggot without OPs

Exact dates to be announced soon.

2013-2014 Advance Payment Program (APP) Update: The NSFGA will be administering the 2013-2014 APP for apples; letters were sent to the growers who participated in the 2012-2013 spring portion of the APP requesting they contact Teresa Rooney to receive an application form. If you did not participate in the 2012-2013 APP and would like to receive an application form, please contact Teresa Rooney at 678-1093 or via email at trooney@nsapples.com

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The NSFGA Apple News

Report in Bins April 2013

VARIETY FRESH PEELER TOTAL

CA Cold CA Cold

Ambrosia 250 0 0 0 250

Cortland 1036 0 0 2 1038

Empire 716 0 0 0 716

Gala 6 0 0 0 6

Golden De-licious 501 0 0 0 501

Golden Russet 0 0 0 0 0

Honeycrisp 0 1 0 0 1

Idared 667 0 3374 0 4041

Jonagold 1323 0 60 0 1383

McIntosh 3037 0 0 0 3037

Red Deli-cious 595 0 0 0 595

Spartan 0 0 0 0 0

Spy 0 15 9624 0 9639

Others 65 143 0 0 208

TOTAL 7946 159 13058 2 21415

Report in Bins April 2012

VARIETY FRESH PEEL- TOTAL

CA Cold CA

Ambrosia 125 0 0 125

Cortland 1219 0 0 1219

Empire 209 34 0 243

Gala 462 64 0 526

Golden Delicious 784 222 300 1306

Golden 3 2 0 5

Hon- 10 0 0 10

Idared 377 438 4257 5072

Jonagold 1270 8 38 1316

McIntosh 6590 240 0 6830

Red Deli-cious 1163 575 0 1738

Spartan 238 0 0 238

Spy 30 0 10951 10981

Others 225 120 0 345

TOTAL 12580 1703 15546 29954

Nova Scotia Apple Storage by Variety and Use from NSFGA collected Data Reported in Bins on:

Region/Province

2012-2013 2011-2012

% Change

C.A. Cold Common Total C.A. Cold Common Total

Total Maritimes

16,068 122 0 16,190 21,358 1,287 0 22,645 -28.51%

Quebec 55,235 4,554 0 59,789 53,142 709 0 53,851 11.03%

Ontario 7,019 509 0 7,528 76,722 2,059 0 78,781 -90.44%

British Columbia

29,209 10,979 0 40,188 34,893 9,338 0 44,231 -9.14%

Total Canada

107,531 16,164 0 123,695 186,115 13,393 0 199,508 -38.00%

Canadian Apple Storage by Type of Storage and Province, April 1, 2012 in thousands lbs from AAFC InfoHort http://www4.agr.gc.ca/IH5_Reports/faces/apple_reports.jsp?lang=e&ref=apple_reports

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SeaBoost

Liquid Seaweed Fertilizer & Plant Growth Stimulant

SEA—Lower Fertilizer Use and Less Pest Damage

BOOST—More Vibrant, Healthier Plants

www.seaboost.ca

1.800.393.5357

Industry News

The NSFGA Apple News

Local Dealers:

Scotian Gold

Cavendish

An email was forwarded from the NSFGA office to members on April 2, 2012 from the CFIA announc-ing Information for Canadian Apple Stakeholders regarding the detection of Apple Proliferation Phy-toplasma in Nova Scotia

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has detected apple proliferation phytoplasma (APP) in an apple orchard near Kentville, Nova Scotia. The affected orchard has been placed under quaran-tine.

For more information contact the NAFGA office or Charlene Green, CFIA at

Charlene.Green@inspection.gc.ca

1-905-938-8697

ASSOCIATION NEWS—continued

The NSFGA Bursary application has been sent to the NS School Boards and many schools. The Bursary is awarded to a de-serving student entering or already in a post secondary educational program re-lated to tree fruit production based on ac-ademic achievement, participation in school and community activities and inter-est in the tree fruit industry.

Preference is given to a member or child/grandchild of a member of the NSFGA. Please pass the word to a student you know. An application is included on pages 9-10.

The bursary was cut from the 2012-2013 budg-et. The bursary funds of $500 were generously donated by 2 member farms this year.)

The Blair House

Museum’s oldest

version of Dan D ‘s

head (not shown)

will be in a Chil-

dren’s Apple Blos-

som Parade diplay

at the Kings County

Museum this sum-

The NSFGA will not be ordering Apple Maggot or Codling Moth Traps this year. Scotian Gold Country Garden Centre has traps in stock.

Please note although you may find things missing on the nsapples.com web site., such as the Bursary Application, the web hosting company is working on the cause within their software. Sorry for any inconvenience.

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The NSFGA Apple News

A REMINDER

To growers interested in using PLANtation Profit Planner™ or Business Planner™ in your business to aid in orchard renewal and financial man-agement. If you are interested please let the office know by April 25, 2013

Nova Scotia Fruit Growers can participate in a one year pilot project to assess the value of the financial management programs for your or-chard business.

PLANtation™ programs have been developed predominantly for use in perennial cropping sys-tems. Initial use has been by horticultural grow-ers both in United States and Australia. The pro-gram has been extensively trialled. Growers should be aware of their responsibility to under-stand how the program works and of ensuring the accuracy and limitations of use of their own data. It is anticipated that each grower will need to commit two days initially to provide in-formation to the facilitator of the program.

We currently have six orchard businesses regis-tered for the program. If you are interested please let the office know by April 25, 2013. To defray costs incurred, the cost to participates will be $300.00 per farm business.

Check out this link for more information: http://www.plantationprofitplanner.com.au/about.php

IN THE NEWS TODAY:

The media has picked up news coming from Seana Coffins, Head CAL Kentville Infor-mation Centre, AAFC about the official wel-come for the “Orangutang” apple variety. Keith Fuller, AAFC explained its origin to staff,

“It happened a few years ago in the fruit test lab at AFHRC Kentville. I remember I had been invit-ed along with a few others by the Tree Fruits Program under Charlie Embree to taste a few se-lections. There was this selection that a few of us thought had an underlying hint of a citrus flavour (orange) and had high flavour and acid (tangy) . So Orange + tangy = Orangutang. We had a good laugh

The Canadian Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust is accepting applications for their 2014 program. Application are due by April 30, 2013 and forms can be downloaded from the Nuffield Canada website at www.nuffield.ca. Three scholarships of $15,000 each are available for 2014.

Scholarships are awarded to enthusiastic in-dividuals with a passion for agriculture and a desire to expand their knowledge, pursue new ideas and share their findings. Appli-cants should be between 25-45 years, rec-ommended only, and have a minimum of 5 years agricultural business or farming experi-ence plus management ability to step away from their current duties. The Scholar must travel for a minimum of 10 weeks. Get more details at www.nuffield.ca.

Photo of

Orangutang

apple variety

compliments

of the CET

Project

Kentville

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The NSFGA Apple News

NSFGA PRODUCTION COMMITTEE SPRING WORKSHOP

‘Stone Fruit Pruning Systems’**

Thursday April 18, 2013

8:30 am – noon

PRCP Course # T1114 (5 Points)

8:30 am Meet at the Rob Peill Farm. (Cherries – 45 minutes)

Follow up of pruning techniques and alternate tree removal from last year.

9:30 am Blake Sarsfield Farm (Cherries & Peaches – 1 hour)

Follow up with last year’s aggressive pruning of modified Spanish bush

system for ‘Lapin’ cherries. Pruning and maintaining ‘Red Haven’ and

‘Early Red Haven’ peaches under modified open-centre training system.

11:00 am Eisses Farms (Cherries – 45 minutes)

Managing ‘Regina’ cherries.

One of the aspects of the workshop is pruning to reduce the incidence of

bacterial canker and improve spray penetration.

Call Rob Peill 679-9166 (cell) if you are in question of a postponement.

**Attendance will be worth 5 Pesticide Recertification Credit Points

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The NSFGA Apple News

NSFGA PRODUCTION COMMITTEE SPRING MEETING**

Thursday April 18, 2013

Waterville Fire Hall, 7 pm - 9pm

PRCP Course #T1115 (4 Points)

7:00 – 7:10 Grab a Refreshment compliments of Fraser & Hoyt Insurance

7:10 pm Updates to Tree Fruit Pest Management Guides: Bill Craig, Perennia

New product registrations and expiry of registrations (e.g Guthion) for 2013 will be discussed

to ensure fruit growers are aware of latest updates in pest management products.

7:25pm Orchard Pests of Interest in 2013: Dr. Suzanne Blatt, AAFC

Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) and European Apple Sawfly (EAS) are two pests of concern

to the tree fruit industry. Life cycles, current knowledge on thresholds, what is available for

control and when to apply for both pests will be covered in this talk.

7:45 pm Fruiting Wall Management System (FWMS): Chris Duyvelshoff,

Perennia

The basis of the FWMS, potential benefits, and Perennia’s research project for evaluating the

timing of the summer hedging cut on tree growth and productivity will be discussed. The

FWMS has potential to reduce input use in tree fruit production.

8:05 pm Pollution: David Larder, Fraser & Hoyt Insurance

8:20 pm Methods to Manage Crop Load: Doug Nichols, NSFGA

The effect of chemical thinner on the gradient of dominance that exists in the position of the

flower/ fruit within the cluster will be discussed. The importance of pruning and hand thinning

to complement the production of uniform quality apple throughout the tree canopy will be em-

phasised.

8:40 pm Highlights of 2013 IFTA Convention and Tour: Larry Lutz, Scotian Gold

An overview of current production techniques for high-density orchard systems to enable

maximum input efficiency will be discussed.

**Attendance will be worth 4 Pesticide Recertification Credit Points

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The NSFGA Apple News

A BIT OF NSFGA HISTORY REVISITED

Are you proud of the perseverance of the members of the NSFGA to support an association for 150 years with Community-- providing the strength of an industry voice, Planning-- to develop and co-ordinate long term industry direction and Support--to access resources to enable industry success?

Dr. Julian Gwyn, Historian will be giving an after-dinner talk to the Fieldwood Heritage Society. The topic will be the NSFGA and will touch on three aspects; the early years, the women, and the un-fortunate flaw. The Society has invited Valley apple industry stakeholders to attend.

Does anyone recognize these fellows?

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CONGRATULATIONS TO: Request for photos. It will be an ongo-ing project to update the NSFGA web site and Facebook. If you have tree fruit related photos we may use please email them, drop by with your memory sitck, smart card or camera to the of-fice, or see Peter Eisses. Thank you.

The NSFGA Apple News

DATES TO REMEMBER:

April 16 Annual Convention Committee Meeting, 9 am

Blair House

April 16 Executive Committee Meeting, 10am, Blair House

April 18 Production Committee Workshop (8:30am) and

Meeting (7pm)

April 25 Board of Directors Meeting, 7pm, AFHRC

April 30—May 12 NSFGA Financial Officer, Teresa Rooney is on

Holiday

Note: The NSFGA prefers to send out as few hard copies of the newsletter as possible but let us know if you prefer to receive it in hard copy. Also let us know if there is someone who did not receive a newsletter but wishes to.

Nova Scotia Fruit Grower’s Association 32 Main St., Blair House, AFHRC Kentville, NS B4N 1J5 Phone: 902-678-1093 Fax: 678-1567 mbelknap@nsapples.com derith@nsapples.com trooney@nsapples.com

www.nsapples.com

Photos from Prun-

ing Workshop and

IFP Meeting 2012.

Don’t miss the fol-

low up on Thursday

April 18th, 2013

WINNERS of the NSFGA Science Fair Awards: Students; Michelle Song, Wolfville School, $25 and Rose Schoonho-ven, Central Kings Rural High School, $50. (The award mon-ey was cut from the 2012-13 budget. Thank you to Dela Erith and Teresa Rooney who donated the money for this to continue in the name of the NSFGA.)

Lacey Skaling, NSFGA Apple Maggot Eradication Techni-cian 2011, for receiving recognition and named to the Dean’s List as an Outstanding Annapolis Valley Student at the Dalhousie Faculty of Agriculture (formally NSAC).

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Nova Scotia Fruit Growers’ Association

EDUCATIONAL BURSARY PROGRAM 2013

Guidelines

The Nova Scotia Fruit Growers’ Association (NSFGA) is offering a 2013 Bursary of $500 to a student entering

or already in a post secondary educational program in the field of:

Tree Fruit Production or a related Program which might include the following:

Agriculture

Biology

Chemistry

Food Science

Plant Science

Environmental Science

Business or Agri-Business

Priority will be given to a member, or the child/grandchild of a member of the NSFGA.

This bursary will be awarded to a deserving student based on:

academic achievement

participation in school and community activities

interest in the tree fruit industry

Applicants may receive the bursary once during a study program at the undergraduate level and once during

a program at the graduate level.

Please ensure that your application is fully completed, and all supporting documents are included and re-

turned by May 29, 2013.

Applications to be sent to:

Education Committee

Nova Scotia Fruit Growers’ Association Nova

Blair House, Kentville Agricultural Centre

32 Main St.,

Kentville, NS B4N 1J5

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NOVA SCOTIA FRUIT GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION EDUCATIONAL BURSARY PROGRAM APPLICATION

Personal Information

Name: ___________________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Telephone: ___________________________________________________

Name of relative who is or has been a member of the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers’ Association:

___________________________________________________

School Information

Name of School: __________________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________________________

Telephone: ___________________________________________________

Principal’s Name: __________________________________________________

Guidance Counselors’ Name: ___________________________________________________ ___________

PLEASE RETURN THIS APPLICATION FORM TOGETHER WITH THE FOLLOWING BY MAY 29, 2013.

1. Personal Resume which includes:

scholastic achievements and date they were received (i.e. honor roll, principal’s list, etc.)

clubs and organizations of which you are a member; volunteer and other work related experience

2 references, one academic and one personal reference including their name, address and phone number

2. A Copy of the following:

your acceptance letter to a university or college (OR a list indicating where you have applied)

a copy of your most recent transcript

3. A brief essay (one page) outlining your career and life goals as it relates to agriculture and in particular the tree fruit indus-

try. This can include career goals related to tree fruit production, research, product/food development, market develop-

ment, plant or environmental science or agri-business.

4. One academic letter of reference

Applications must be received no later than May 29, 2013 and may be mailed to:

Education Committee

Nova Scotia Fruit Growers Association

Blair House, Kentville Agricultural Centre

32 Main St., Kentville, NS B4N 1J5