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Horticultural News
M. Elena Garcia, Horticulturist
Hurricane Floyd Damage Update
As you may remember, on September 17, 1999, Hurricane Floyd hit Vermont, bringing with it high winds and over 6 inches of rain. This date coincided with the beginning of McIntosh harvest, which comprises at least 60% of the apple industry in the state. There was immediate damage from this storm. Fruit drop ranged from 30% to 75%, with an average of about 50%. In addition to direct loss of fruit due to fruit drop, the fruit that remained on the tree was badly damaged with cuts, puncture wounds, and bruising which caused significant decrease in fruit quality and thus, decreased the value of the crop that remained on the tree after the hurricane (see attached photographs). Couple these losses with increased cost of harvest because of the need to closely inspect and grade the fruit, plus the effect of the drastic change from drought conditions to excessive rain on the storage quality of the fruit harvested, and it is clear to see how Hurricane Floyd has made a critical economic situation for Vermont's Apple Industry even worse.
Although many growers spent extra time and resources during harvest to cull out some of the damaged fruit, the damage was so extensive that presently, as the apples are being moved from storage to markets, it continues to have a negative effect on the precarious state of the industry. Normally, 80 to 85% of Vermont's apple crop is sold in the fresh market and 20 to 15% is sold for processing. Right now, a bushel of apples is being sold for fresh market at an average of 10 dollars per bushel (prices range from 7 to 17 dollars per bushel depending on the grade and size of the apples). Apples sold for the processing market are being sold at 1.60 dollars per bushel. This season, due to damage incurred from Floyd, up to 50% of the fruit is being sold for processing. An extensive economic study conducted in 1991 indicated that the cost of production, storing, and packing a bushel of apples in New York was 9.47 dollars per bushel. Even without adjusting for inflation, the returns growers are receiving today are below the levels needed to allow for survival, much less to reinvestment in the business.
In January, the Vermont Apple Marketing Board asked the UVM Apple Team to conduct a survey to assess the losses to growers (see attached copy of survey). The questions in this survey were designed by growers who are members of the Marketing Board, and reflect overall monetary losses due to fruit quality and not overall production. The following figures are the results of 24 responses. The total losses from Hurricane Floyd are in the millions of dollars and are estimated at 3,143,432. 00 million dollars. The losses among the growers vary from no losses to three growers reporting losses of over half a million dollars each. The average loss was estimated at $136,707.00. From this survey, it is evident that the growers with the largest production (wholesale) were the most affected by 'Floyd' (see attached survey results).
The Apple Marketing Board used the data given below as support for bill (H. 574) introduced by State Representative John LaBarge. This bill would provide emergency relief directly to Vermont apple growers suffering weather-related crop losses in September
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