Bl4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 29,1983
Annual hort meeting covers research gamut
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
HERSHEY The 124th Annual
Meeting of the State Horticultural
Association of Pennsylvania and
the 1983 Vegetable Conference was
held this week at the Hershey
Convention Center.
Everything you’d ever want to
know about fruits and vegetables
Will more Pa. farming
be done under glass?
HERS HEY If Penn State has
its way, more of Commonwealth
fanning will be put under glass.
This was one of the research
proposals advanced by Sam Smith,
Dean of the College of Agriculture
at Penn State, in a talk at the State
Hort Meeting this week.
“We’ve applied for research
money to study the expansion of
the use of greenhouse farming in
Pennsylvania,” Smith said.
“The objective of the research
will be to not only expand the types
of fanning possible under glass but
to reduce energy consumption by
some 85 percent over five years.”
Dr. Smith held up greenhouse
farming as an example of the high
technology agriculture that must
be practiced by both researchers
and farmers alike to keep U.S.
farming in the forefront.
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HERSHEY Pennsylvania’s
top tomato growers were honored
at an awards luncheon held
Tuesday at the Hershey Con
vention Center.
The growers were honored for
their top yields of tomatoes grown
for processing.
Participating in the awards
ceremony were Ronald Brooks,
Mid-west Regional Manager,
Heinz, USA; Rocco V. Pugliese,
Executive Director, Pennsylvania
Food Processors Association; and
Michael D. Orzolek, of the Penn
State Horticulture Department.
Among the growers honored
were:
-Stem Farms, Island Route,
Lock Haven, for the top yield in
machine harvest competition for
growers with more than 100 acres.
The harvest included 4,442.2 tons of
useable fruit from 170 acres for a
26.1 ton per acre average yield.
-William and Brian Beckman,
2386 Avis Dr., Harborcreek, for the
highest yield in machine harvest
for growers with 75 to 99 acres.
Their yield was 2,116.6 tons from
84.1 acres for a 25.2-ton average.
-David Kistler, R 2 Kempton,
won in the category for machine
harvest among growers with 50 to
74 acres. His yield was 1,291.2 tons
from 60 acres for an average of 25.1
tons per acre.
-Dwight and David Hess, R 1
Marietta, were tops in the class for
was covered at one time or another
during the three-day program. An
extensive trade show was also
held.
Scores of different subjects
concerning the latest in research
for the fruit and vegetable grower
were reviewed.
Here are just a few of the ac
tivities:
Commonwealth’s champion tomato growers receive honors
machine harvest for growers with
20 to 49 acres. Their yield was 541.4
tons from 22 acres for an average
of 24.6 tons per acre.
-In the only hand harvest class
in which there were competitors,
Linus H. Martin, R 3 Mifflinburg,
won in the 5 to 14-acre category.
His yield on seven acres was 206.5
tons for an average yield of 29.5
tons per acre.
Samuel H. Smith
George Toner, Cindy and Mark Stern
Stern Farms, Lock Haven
Do you prefer to drink apples?
HERSHEY Do you prefer to
drink your apples rather than eat
them?
Apparently a lot of people do
favor taking their apples in the
liquid form, according to Frank
Emerson, cider researcher at
Purdue University.
And if he has his way, his studies
outlined at the annual State
Horticultural Association meeting
this week at the Hershey Con
vention Center will help promote
this liquid apple trend.
There was a time that pressing
cider was primarily an orchard
sideline of a way of getting rid of
the excess or rejected fruit that
couldn’t be sold for the eating
market.
But this has all changed.
“I’ve found that some growers
are putting tree-run and graded
fruit into their cider," Emerson
explained.
"And they’re finding it almost as
profitable or even more profitable
than handling packed fruit with all
of its extra labor.”
This trend toward producing
more cider is what spurred
Emerson into his liquid apple
research at Purdue in just the past
couple of years. When he started to
look around for resource material,
he found that the latest studies
were dated 1941.
“We’ve found that cider has
David Kistler
R 2 Kempton
become a profitable and in
teresting outlet for apples and has
been built up almost entirely
without the benefit of any recent
research.”
In fact, cider production has
become so important to the apple
industry that varieties are being
developed just for pressing.
One of the problems of making
cider is that sweet apples, like the
Delicious, don’t ripen until a month
or more after the more acid ap
ples. This interferes with proper
cider blending unless juice from
either type is stored.
So, research is now going into
early sweet varieties which will
ripen just about the'same time as
the acid apples and permit earlier
cider production.
A lot of Emerson’s research has
William and Brian Beckman
Harborcreek
Dwight Hess
R 1 Marietta
gone into developing the proper
blend for making cider. His
preliminary findings favor a blend
that includes 50 to 60 percent of
apples in the medium acid-sugar
ratio range, 30 to 40 percent of
sweet apples and about 10 percent
of the high acid or aromatic ap
ples.
“Don’t forget that consumers
tend to taste with their eyes,”
Emerson said.
“Our studies still show that they
expect farm-fresh cider to be a
little cloudy. They associate the
clearer type with the stuff you can
buy in the supermarket.”
Another phase of the research
has dealt with the type of press
used. Emerson has compared the
Shinko, a continuous rotary type
press, with the Champion, the
batch lot rack and cloth.
He has found that the Shinko has
cut labor costs about eight sents a
gallon and that can add up to a lot
more profits.
Emerson also favors using rice
hulls as a pressing aid since it
increases the amount of juice
extracted. His studies have shown
an income increase of about $l.OO a
bushel from apples pressed with
rice hulls.
Other preliminary findings in his
cider studies show:
-There doesn’t appear to be
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Linus H. Martin
R 3 Mifflinburg