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USDA purchase helping apple industry survive

A Michigan grower says USDA’s latest apple purchase will better position farmers for this year’s season.

Fifth-generation fruit grower Don Rasch tells Brownfield two back-to-back record production years have lowered margins and created a backlog of fruit.

“It’s not a preferable year,” he shares. “Everybody gets all excited with a big crop, but there’s a big expense to bring it in and store it, and it’s survival right now.”

USDA recently announced it will purchase about $10 million of applesauce and cans through a Section 32 purchase for food banks.

Rasch says growers are also choosing to abandon some apples during harvest because the extra work doesn’t turn a profit.

“Last year there were a lot of apples left in the field, the undesirables,” he says. “Years ago we would pick a couple times each tree.”

The Michigan Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Association’s Dawn Drake says the purchase will allow growers to negotiate with processors for higher prices.

Any approved USDA vendor in the U.S. can apply to be a supplier of the purchase announcement.  The Agriculture Marketing Services regularly solicits vendors for over 200 different commodities for schools, food banks, and families. Products must be entirely produced and processed domestically.