Tree Fruit World Tour Part 3

Tree Fruit World Tour Part 3

Tree Fruit World Tour Part 3. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Rolf Luehs is a student intern with the Tree Fruit Commission who believes that the best way to find new ideas from an orchard is to visit it and he has been taking us around the world’s tree fruit growing countries.

LUEHS: Of course Chile, another really interesting country, a very good climate there. They have a lot of good, well educated mid-management that doesn’t hesitate to get foreign expertise in the country. You just have to go across the street to Wal-Mart and go in the apple section you will find all this nice fruit from Chile so it’s always good to know what your competitors are doing.

He says that there is a lot of fruit grown in Europe.

LUEHS: Poland being the biggest apple producing country but a little like China, a little more on the industrial side. Generally in Europe smaller units, more family labor; cheap and good trees.

Next to the Netherlands.

LUEHS: Netherlands can be a lot of fun. For you nursery people around they have a really strong nursery industry. For the growers they have the University of Wageningen which does some excellent research.

He wrapped up his tour in Germany telling the group they use a three row sprayer to cut costs substantially and he says they are quick to implement new technologies.

LUEHS: There are different ways to get your information and that’s through hosting an intern. Having someone like me. You will get well educated labor, very, very motivated employees and you will gain a lot of new perspectives on your operation.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.

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