Demand for Specialty Apples

I’m Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Hard cider is a rapidly growing beverage amongst many Americans. But the apples used to make the best ciders are not the same varieties you might find in the grocery story. Cornell’s Dr. Greg Peck said these speciality cider varieties are commanding a premium.

Peck… “This is not as easy as a backyard garden to do it commercially, but it can still be done. Yes. And can you still make money at it? Yes. And, and we've shown that when our commercial apple growers who know how to grow apples, who have the infrastructure to do it, plant cider apple varieties, you know, high tanin, high acid varieties, that the price that they're getting for that fruit is really high. They're getting a premium for it. And there is still more demand than supply for these unique varieties. And part of that is because of how difficult it is to grow apples. And a lot of these new producers who are making cider don't have the ability to grow the amount of fruit that they need for their business. We also have a lot of cideries that are in urban areas. It's not part of their business plan to grow apples. And so they need to find apples from somewhere.”

Dr. Peck said the growth of the cider industry didn’t seem to slow down during the pandemic.