Growers in Nova Scotia didn’t mind the weekend rain. “We are not complaining in the apple industry at all,” said Emily Lutz, executive director for the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers Association (NSFGA). “We’re celebrating.” “We love the rain on weekends, especially Sunday,” said Josh Oulton, a farmer with Taproot Noggin’s Corner Farm. “You can have great naps when it’s raining on Sunday.” But more than just napping, the rain is perfect for apple trees and the quality of apples they produce. “This year has been really good compared to last year. We’ve had nice consistent rainfall amounts every few weeks,” said Lutz. “We’re still seeing some trees struggling from last year in the extreme drought conditions that they faced. So, we are seeing some tree collapse across different orchards, which means those trees are literally dead. They’re not going to come back. “And then other trees that aren’t dead but are still struggling to peruse the crop. But overall, we are seeing a big rebound and we’re really, really happy with what we’re seeing on the trees.” “This year has been a much better scenario for us,” said Oulton. “We’ve got some real good timely rains. And so we haven’t been busting our butts trying to pump water and irrigate and try to keep the trees alive and going. We did have the capacity to get some water on some spots that were really in rough shape.” Last year was a struggle for many, with drought conditions making more work for farmers with less yield. “What really held our farm back was just the continuing pumping of water,” said Oulton. “So, a high diesel bill like the bill of like having four or five people every day, like dragging pipes around and fixing pipes and pipes blowing up and pumps going down, all that kind of fun stuff. Just add it to the expense of the apples. So that just reduced what we could possibly make.” With bottom lines still being impacted by previous drought. “We kept the trees going, but we did still end up with some smaller apples,” he said. “And we’re still dealing with that now because we’re still packing and shipping some of our last year’s apples. And it’s really struggled to get those size that some people are looking for. But this year is looking much better, of course. We’ve got some nice heat as we’re experiencing today and lots of rain.” “After a tough year, it’s really nice for farmers,” Lutz said. “It’s a very capital-intensive industry. It’s very expensive to farm. So, after a really bad year there’s lots of bills still hanging on from last year. “It’s nice to give us an opportunity to rebound. And for growers to be able to look at their bottom line and decide what their priorities are. Are they going to replace orchard this year or next year, and will they have the capacity to make some of those choices? Will they invest in new equipment? That type of thing. “Anytime there’s a good year, farmers can say, ‘How can I grow better next year? How can I make my operation more efficient? Which varieties should I be investing in for the future? For the consumer?’ All those conversations become possible in a good year versus a bad year, when it’s just making it through the next fiscal.” The way the rain and sun are complimenting each other this year is also a good sign for growing. “They’re getting a lot of water. It means that the moisture is being taken up into the apples,” said Lutz. “It’s been nice and consistent, which means they sort of grow at very steady intervals rather than all at once and struggle along and then all at once. And they are they’re sizing up well on average. And we expect a decent crop.” Though farmers want people to buy apples to enjoy them in their original form, local apples go into a lot of other businesses. “The bigger apples go in a tray, so people can buy individual apples or oftentimes you see like five-pound apples, three-pound apples on sale. So that’s where the smaller ones go,” said Oulton. “And then if we still can’t sell them all, we will turn them into apple juice, apple cider, both sweet and hard. We press a lot of apples into juice that end up being made into ciders.” “We support a number of different industries,” said Lutz. “We support pies, we support juice, we support cider. It is good for us to have a good crop because those tangible benefits just trickle down and trickle out into other areas, into local markets, grocery stores, even just the availability of local apples throughout the length of the season, we can pretty much supply Nova Scotia grocery stores with Nova Scotia apples for a full calendar year.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
