Here in the Northeast, we don’t have the same luxury of abundant supplies of fresh, local, organic fruits as the West. I think most of us around here have eaten a berry from a field. We can taste the difference- it’s juicer, richer in flavor, and well, in season! As a buyer of local produce, I’m always on the lookout for local ORGANIC fruits- we deserve it on the East Coast, right? Sure, it’s not as difficult to find conventionally grown fruits in this area. So, why is that?
Rodale Institute describes it- “Eastern fruit growers face twice as many problem diseases as their Western counterparts (including fireblight, scab, black rot, and cedar apple rust) in addition to no fewer than 60 species of damaging insects. The single most destructive insect pest for Eastern growers—the infamous plum curculio—is unknown in the West. The geographic disparity is so great that Eastern tree fruit growing is widely regarded as “the final organic frontier,” as Michael Phillips put it in his The Apple Grower: A Guide for the Organic Orchardist (Chelsea Green, 1998).”
Yes, that explains it- conventional growers can take care of these pests with chemicals. For natural, organic growers taking care of these pests is quite labor intensive. Add to that the product loss, and a grower fear a viability issue.
I think the real trick is for an organic fruit grower to have another outlet for the less than perfect fruits- whether it be drying, processing, or creating juice. We bought most of our fruit from Reeder Farms last year. Now, they did it right. Naydene Reeder has another side to her business where she uses her fruits for baking, processing, etc. I’d venture to say the Reeders have very minimal loss of fruit.
We know it’s hard for them, but I really hope our farmers try to bring in more organic fruit in the coming years!
** We currently have local, organic apples.
