My
father was interested in irrigation. He
and Ferdinand Zar, a farmer in
I developed equipment. We developed our own sprayer. We covered two rows at a time. We used our tractors more than anybody else did around here. We did our heavy work with a big, crawling tractor. Four-bottom plow, eighteen-inch plows. Then, the farm alls came in and you could cultivate two rows at a time. Farm alls were International tractors and they worked fine. Finally, they started to manufacture more tractors, John Deere, and all of ‘em. International was probably the best row crop tractors that was ever built. It could do two rows at a time. They developed a small tractor that would straddle one row, and it had a little unit on the tractor that did the work in and out of the plants, so we didn’t have to hoe everything. Cliff Emlong
Universities
should spend more time on how to handle selling this fruit for profit
instead of how to raise more of it. We
already [have] a glut of fruit, but the main thing that universities teach
is how to raise more. That’s
going against the grain. [The]
World Trade Agreement had a lot to do with it.
You get fruits coming here from anywhere in the world, and if they
can get them cheaper over there than they can get them here, we’re in
trouble.
Our
university has been sending experts to these other countries that are now
giving us problems. I know some
university professors from
Wally
has always worked closely with the MSU extension people.
We attend fruit grower shows and educational meetings all over the
One
time, I hired a young guy Chris Reiser, from
In
[19]69, the first planting of dwarf, truly dwarf fruit trees, was made here
in
They’re necessary [chemicals]. They’re not as dangerous as they’re portrayed to be if they’re handled properly. I have handled chemicals since I was twelve. I’ve gone the gambit from lime and sulfur, summer oil, nicotine sulfate which was either black leaf forty or black leaf one-fifty-five ‑ arsenate lead, DDT, DD, DDE, parathion. James Lull
Hassle Farms out at Keeler they grew enough strawberries that the buyers would send trucks right to their farm and load not just one truck, but maybe five of them or so right, at there farm. He was one of the largest strawberry growers for years. Eugene Peters
Most
of the fruit farmers down there had connections with
The
MSU extension offers an extensive number of workshops for local schools, and
meetings run from the beginning of the growing season through the winter
season. We organize one or two
meetings per week, in some format or another.
During the winter months, we conduct two to four day-intensive
workshops for local schools. At
times, we participate in community functions at state conferences.
We also benefit from interaction with other states, but mainly on
growers in this area. In
December, we sponsor the Agricultural and Fruit and Marketing Expos,
basically a continuation of the Michigan Horticultural Society meetings
founded several decades ago.
More
recently,
In
their heyday, Haven peaches had a great impact on the growing community and
the peach-growing industry. When
Stanley Johnston developed the Haven varieties, it lengthened the growing
season, but that type of work was done about forty years ago, and that’s
an extremely long time for varieties. It
is truly amazing that we still grow some of the Haven varieties at all.
Genetic material is still used in our operations today.
Cresthaven serves as one example of this process because of its nice
fruit and eating characteristics but, because of color issues, it offers no
real market value. In our work
here, past experiments play a major role in the development of future
projects.
Jim Hancock of
A
few growers realized the benefits of the South Haven station and sought
experimental material for their farms. Over
time, we developed breeding programs that growers adopted, many of which
exist today. Both the South
Haven and MSU stations thrive in the midst of the grower communities.
We cannot leave the station without crossing over into a fruit
operation. This relationship
works both ways, and I feel engaged with the grower community at all times.
Several means of communication allow us to remain in touch with new growers. We offer workshops that educate the community on the complexities of fruit farming. Growers in our immediate community [an eleven county region in the southwest], attend the same meetings. We maintain one-on-one type of relationships, either in the hallway or in a lecture hall. Annual reports keep farmers informed of current affairs, Web sites also net results, as does the popular media, local newspapers, or grower magazines. I conduct two radio broadcasts per week and pass on pertinent results based on the time of year or the ones I think benefit growers most. William Shane
In
order to reduce labor, we used to hire one hundred-two hundred people to
pick fruit on the farm, and that required labor housing and a lot of
management. When I bought the
farm from my father, in 1962, I believe it was, one of the first things I
did was try to reduce the cost of labor because cherries at that time were
selling for about only three or four cents a pound.
So there was a fellow, a neighbor, who was making mechanical
harvesting equipment. One of our
neighbors had tried one of these machines and each time they made it, it
became obsolete, and they’d improve it.
Finally, I got one that I thought would work, but it had never been
used on a commercial basis. I
was a young fellow and very determined.
We were determined that we were going to sell our cherries with
machine harvest or get out of the business.
We sold our cabins and all our hand equipment.
We had a long time, several years, before it ever was sold and
accepted by the industry, but we did come through and now
ninety-seven-ninety-five percent of all the cherries in the state are picked
with this machine.
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