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International Fruit Tree Association Announces Award Recipients

Christina Herrick Posted by Christina Herrick|March 9, 2016

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The International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA) gathered together more than 400 orchardists, nursery professionals, and plant scientists from 9 different countries in Grand Rapids, MI, recently for its 59th Annual Conference and Tours.

During the conference, IFTA held an awards dinner banquet and recognized industry leaders in four different categories of industry professionals.

2016 Outstanding Award Recipients

  • Extension Award: Amy Irish-Brown
  • Researcher Of The Year Award: Dr. Randy Beaudry
  • Grower Of The Year Award: Ed Wittenbach
  • Industry Service Award: Ken Hall
  • IFTA Hall of Fame: Harold Thome

Extension Award
The Outstanding Extension Educator award was presented to Amy Irish-Brown, Senior Extension Educator at Michigan State University. Irish-Brown has worked with many tree fruit orchardists for nearly 25 years. Her commitment and dedication to helping growers succeed has never waned. Amy specializes in Tree Fruit IPM and covers West-Central Michigan. She focuses on apple IPM and serves as a valuable resource for the whole state. Amy is a favorite speaker on the subjects of tree fruit, pest control, and agriculture labor issues. Growers respect Amy’s abilities, knowledge, and her warm friendly personality. She is an example of MSU Extension’s best.

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Researcher Award
The Outstanding Researcher Award was presented Dr. Randy Beaudry, who has been with the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University as a professor and researcher for more than 25 years. Beaudry’s research has recently been focused on pre-harvest maturity and postharvest storage of all apples but recently in particular, on the difficulties with the ‘Honeycrisp’ variety. Randy’s recent work includes reducing storage disorders and improving controlled-atmosphere (CA) storage of Honeycrisp. Recent work has proven the need to pre-condition ‘Honeycrisp’ apples after harvest before storage to eliminate storage breakdown. Post-harvest treatments also increased fruit quality.

Grower Of The Year
Ed Wittenbach of Wittenbach Orchards in Belding, MI, was recognized as a Grower of the Year. Ed is a past board of director of IFTA. He has received numerous awards over his lifetime of growing tree fruit, including American Fruit Grower® and Western Fruit Grower® magazines’ 1999 Apple Grower of the YearSM . Ed is considered a leader and always willing to help advance the apple industry. Ed’s farm hosts the NC-140 Honeycrisp Rootstock trial. His farm has often been a favorite stop for IFTA over the past years. Ed’s growing excellence and agricultural leadership is exceptional.  He is truly a grower’s grower, well-respected, well-liked and well-known in Michigan and beyond.

Industry Service Award
Ken Hall of Edwards Apple Orchard in Poplar Grove, IL, was given the Industry Service award. Not only has Hall served nine years on the IFTA Board of Directors, including a term as president, but was also an original trustee and one of the driving forces of the recently formed IFTA Research Foundation. He served as the foundation’s first president. He has championed the mission of IFTA and the adoption of technology and shared learning by orchardists for many years, even after his orchard was nearly wiped out by a tornado. His service to growers and the tree fruit industry has served as an exceptional example of the best of community, industry and organization leadership.

IFTA Hall of Fame
Harold Thome, a fourth-generation grower, was inducted into the prestigious 2016 IFTA Hall of Fame. Thome, from Comstock Park, MI, joined IFTA in 1959 and served on the board for 10 years. His involvement with IFTA has given him the opportunity to be well-informed of new technologies and varieties. On Thome’s 220-acre farm he has high-density plantings on two-wire trellis and bamboo stakes. He offers 13 different varieties that are now being stored in his brand new CA storage facility. Thome keeps his orchard young by removing and replanting continuously. He has become an industry leader by adopting these new technologies and varieties. Thome has passed on his fruit growing excellence to the next generations, including son Steve, and grandson, Mitch. Thome and his wife Joann were named the 1992 Apple Growers of the YearSM.

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Christina Herrick is former Editor of American Fruit Grower magazine and Western Fruit Grower magazine, published by Meister Media Worldwide. See all author stories here.