RESEARCH
Non-Traditional Fruit Crops
Sustainability & Buy Local

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NON-TRADITIONAL FRUIT CROPS

The Need - Why We Started the Research

Society has poured massive resources into creating our industrialized food system that is based on cheap, abundant fossil fuels and economic efficiencies of scale. It continues to benefit from publicly funded highway infrastructure and production subsidies. This system provides an abundant supply of cheap food at the market place, but with the passage of time, hidden costs have taken their toll on society and the environment. To quote Jules Pretty, Director of the Center for the Environment and Society at the University of Essex in England, “Food is actually very expensive. We end up paying for it three times-once at the market, a second time via taxes for subsides, and a third time to clean up the environmental and health mess.”

Indeed, obesity and many chronic health problems can be traced back to a system that compromises nutritional value because of a long supply chain that often requires over-processing and multitude of chemical additives to prevent spoilage and maintain palatability. Environmental costs associated with industrial agriculture and mega-processing facilities must be addressed. Energy requirements and consumption of non-renewable resources is not sustainable. Concentration of investment and job opportunities are impoverishing rural America.

All of these factors have increased the demand for locally and regionally produces foods, but the lack of diversity and infrastructure severely limits supply. The basic motivating factor for our on-farm research is to address these issues. Identifying new fruit crops that can be sustainably grown in our region, will increase diversity and hopefully help justify investment in regional processing and distribution in conjunction with other local foods.

What We Are Doing
From our poster presentation at the National Sustainable Agriculture, Research and Education (SARE) Conference, August, 2006

Most of the following fruits listed (Unknown, Little Known and Overlooked Fruits) are being grown without pesticides or artificial fertilizers. Any exceptions are followed by IPM in parentheses.

Hardy &Artic Kiwi remain in the test area, but have not fruited and do not exhibit good adaptability. Research indicates they require a deep, well-drained soil with good fertility. Adaptability will probably be very site specific.

Adaptability of Saskatoon appears to be cultivar specific, so we are expanding our variety trials. Overall potential looks good.

Aronia appears to be very sustainable and is ready for large scale production and marketing trials.

PawPaw remains in our trial, but appears to lack hardiness and adaptability in our region.

Cornellian Cherry has some disease issues, but we will continue to evaluate it.

Our Russian Quince varieties adapted very well and produced large crops of good quality fruit early, but were badly affected by fire blight (a bacterial disease) in 2007. (IPM)

American Persimmon was planted in 2006, and looked good in 2007.

Ukranian Persimmon (cross between American & Asian Persimmon) was also planted in 2006, but is struggling to survive.

Gumi looked very good and fruited well, but died back severely in the winter of 2006-07.

Autum Olive was eliminated from the test plot (concern about potential invasiveness) and replaced by Buffalo Berry (Sheperdia argentea) in the spring of 2007.

Sea Buckthorn appears to have outstanding market potential as a nutrient rich berry that is very adaptable and producer friendly (but has some harvesting challenges). We are expanding cultivar trials and would like to start large-scale production and marketing trials.

Honeybery has potential as a very early ripening fruit crop, but adaptability appears to be cultivar specific and further testing will be required.

Wolfberry (Goji Berry) is only hardy to about –10 degrees F, so will die back to the ground in our area nearly every winter unless heavily mulched.

Medlar has adapted so far, but winter hardiness may be questionable. Fruiting has been good, but uses are limited.

Mulberry has potential as a commercial crop, but appears to need more cultivar selection to be reliably hardy in our area.

Cherry Prinsepia was very adaptable, but it was eliminated from our test plot in 2007 because the fruit quality was unacceptable.

Meadar Hybrid Bush Cherries have not performed well and have marginal fruit quality. (IPM)

European Pear variety (Ubileen) was planted as a pollinator for the Asian Pears. It is a very early pear and the first harvest in 2007 indicated it had good quality, but harvest time will be critical, as it softens internally very quickly. (IPM)

Shipova has not yet fruited and adaptability is still in question.

Asian Pear (Shinseiki Cultivar) has performed well so far, and seems to set fruit even without cross-pollination.

Fruiting Rose has set very few hips, so has not been evaluated for its fruit quality (we are baffled by its lack of fruit production—any ideas?) Bushes are hardy and vigorous.

Blackberry a number of cultivars are being tested, including some fall fruiting types that have been disappointing.

American Elderberry is very adaptable, produces large crops, and has high nutritional value. We think it is ready for large-scale production and marketing trials for regional marketing.

European Elderberry varieties have not performed well, but we plan to trial more cultivars.

Magnolia Vine survives but does not thrive in our test plot. It appears to be sensitive to hot summer temperatures and may not adapt to our clay-based soils.

European Mountain Ash has adapted well, but fruit is too astringent (high in tannin content) for most uses.

Ash-Aronia Cross has also adapted well and its fruit quality is better than the European Mountain Ash, but more astringent than Aronia.

European Highbush Cranberry was very hardy and disease resistant, but fruit quality was unacceptable. It was replaced by two named cultivars of American Highbush Cranberry in the spring of 2007.

Service Tree (Pear form) was planted in 2006 and has not yet fruited, but it appears to have adapted well with few disease of insect issues.

Fruit crops listed in Table 1b (Ribes Sub-plot) are managed with a high level IPM program. Pests are scouted for on a regular basis and pesticides are rarely used. This is a variety trial.

European Black Currants have adapted and fruited well. We would like to conduct larger scale production and marketing research. Four cultivars are being evaluated.
American Black Currant (Crandall) was planted in 2006. First harvest in 2007 was impressive and plants showed few insect or disease issues.

Red Currant Family (includes white, pink and red fruited cultivars) Fruiting and pest issues quite variable; eight cultivars are being evaluated for commercial potential.

Jostaberry (a Black Currant X Gooseberry cross) planted unspecified crosses from 2 nursery sources in 2006. Plants look vigorous, but have not yet fruited.

Gooseberries being evaluated have a wide range of fruit quality and adaptability. Eight cultivars are being evaluated.

Fruit crops listed in Table 1c (Stonefruit sub-plot) are being managed with a low spray IPM approach. Plum curculio and leaf spot had to be controlled chemically in 2007. Adaptability and fruit quality are being evaluated.

American Plum which is native and widely adapted, is being used as a pollinator species. Since these are not grafted, they exhibit a great deal of genetic diversity. Though not considered dessert quality, some individual clones show outstanding processing potential.

European Plum are the traditional prune-type that can be eaten fresh or dried. Three cultivars are being evaluated.

Hybrid Plum (for Northern production) is typically a cross between American plum for winter hardiness and Asian plum for size and dessert quality. Eleven cultivars are being evaluated, including two from Dr. Brian Smith’s breeding program at UW River Falls.

Sweet Cherry are marginal in our environment, but we are looking at three of the hardiest and most crack resistant cultivars. Fruit bud hardiness due to short chilling requirements has been the most limiting factor so far.

Tart Cherry Though we know that most tart cherry varieties grow well in our environment, we are testing a little known variety that is supposed to have dark flesh.

Sweet-Tart Cherry Crosses exhibit some characteristics of both parents. We are evaluating two crosses that appear to have good dessert quality fruit and good adaptability. Yields have been somewhat disappointing so far.

Apricot-Plum Cross that we have has not fruited and will be removed.

Apricot one cultivar was planted in 2005, but has not fruited

Ongoing and Future Research Objectives

We will continue to screen, evaluate, and document information about all of the fruit types in our test plot. We will add new types and new cultivars that meet our test criteria. Fruit types that do not meet the most basic sustainability tests for our region will be eliminated, but information that could be useful for other regional marketing areas will be documented and recorded.

Potential niche items will be identified, but focus will be on fruit that appear to have significant potential to diversity and assist in justifying a regional marketing approach. The items that have exceptional nutritional value and environmental adaptability (grower friendly) traits will be selected for commercial scale production, product development and marketing research.

Significant increases in the availability of locally produced food will require infrastructure for processing and distribution. To be competitive, a regional food system will require a diverse and consistent supply of agricultural product. New and unusual fruit crops would add diversity and volume that could provide the critical mass required.

Stakes are simply too high to leave the outcome to chance. We are proposing a research framework within which to establish production protocols, form a grower network, examine risk management, and ramp-up production of selected fruit crops within three years. A network of small diverse processors would conduct product development and test marketing to support a regional marketing initiative within five years.

Groundwork has already been done. At least four fruit crops have been identified that warrant commercial consideration for our region. Aronia, Sea Berry, American Elderberry and European Black Currant, stand out as sustainable additions that could provide the tipping point for investment in regional processing and distribution infrastructure. Additional screening at our test site will probably identify other fruit crops including, but not limited to; the Red Currant family, Saskatoon, Gooseberry, and adapted Plum varieties.

Putting plants in the ground based on anecdotal information from other countries and other regions will not provide the Best Management Practices (BMP) information required to optimize yields and minimize risk and production costs. To determine profitability, potential growers need to know farm-gate pricing, as well as production cost. This will require product development, marketing and processing research.

A series of BMP will have to be compared to determine their affect on net profitability. This will require field trials to compare labor and capital intensive approaches that result in earlier and higher yields to low input approaches that cost less to implement, but delay the income stream. Research results will help growers determine what BMP will achieve Maximum Return on Investment (MRI) for their operation. This will be done by assigning values specifically applicable to their operation to a series of variables that determine profitability. These include, but are not limited to such factors as, capital investment needs, cost of labor, cost of money, transportation, yield projections, amortization factors, and farm-gate pricing.

Using background information from previous research and literature review, the following steps are proposed:

1. Compare production techniques to determine best management practices tailored to the local region. This would include, but not be limited to: propagation, planting, spacing, maintenance, harvesting and handling techniques.

2.  Concurrently form a network of growers who would agree (probably with cost sharing incentives) to plant an (significant) acreage of one or more of the test crops using similar production techniques to compare Meso-climatic differences, such as soil type, sun exposure, slope and drainage. (A secondary goal is to have enough production in three years for serious product development and test marketing.)

3.  Assemble a product development team of small processors. Research their capabilities and network with them to design a product development plan. Provide small amounts of fruit from the existing test plot and other sources (if available) to establish processing protocol and conduct sampling seminars with trade groups.

4.  Work with the processor network to design a marketing plan that can be implemented through existing channels and explore cooperative efforts that might serve as a nucleus for regional marketing. Conduct accelerated marketing tests and explore labeling and branding options to capture identity and added value as locally produced and processed products.

5.  Emphasis from production research to product development and marketing will be phased in between years three and five. After year three, best management practices to maximize yield, reduce costs and minimize risk should be fairly well established. Marketing price potential should be emerging to the point where original grower network members and new growers, will be willing to increase acreage without cost sharing incentives.

By the end of five years, production and marketing should be far enough advanced to attract investment. This five-year research initiative could provide the tipping point for a regional approach that would accommodate many locally produced foods and significantly increase availability. This is an ambitious proposal that will require consumer support and outside funding to help recruit producers and small processors. We are seeking public grants and other funding sources to share start-up cost.  If you have any suggestions or can help us get funding, please email us at carandal@chorus.net 

If you have any questions, please call our 24-hour Hotline at (608) 835-3979 or call (608) 835-5871 during business hours.