What is the State of the Fruit and Nut Industry?
January 1, 2020 
Here’s just one of many interesting bits of feedback from this year’s State of the Fruit and Nut Industry survey.
“A Tale of Two Cities” is an oft-used analogy when examining how people have fared in a given time frame. But it couldn’t be more apt to describe how the nation’s fruit growers are feeling about their industry.
Larger wholesale growers have been buffeted by trade winds and pained by labor shortages. Some of their crops, notably apples and wine grapes, face lower prices because of surpluses. Smaller direct-market growers, however, largely don’t face such challenges and are feeling good about supplying increasingly demanding consumers with quality fruit.
Those are the primary takeaways from American Fruit Grower and Western Fruit Grower magazines’ fifth annual State of the Fruit and Nut Industry survey. Again this year, the survey elicited a warm response as more than 500 growers, researchers, and other allied industry members such as suppliers, weighed in — more than 400 of them growers.
Over the rest of the course of this month, we’ll present here on this site what is on the minds of your industry counterparts, mostly, of course, the growers themselves. You’ll also find reports on all the major crop categories (berries, grapes, nuts, pome, stone fruit, and more) we cover.
ONE FOR THE SMALL GUY
Overall, the numbers didn’t deviate a great deal from past years’ responses. For example, production plans for 2020 didn’t look a whole lot different from past years, at first glance. In past years, approximately 40% of growers have said they plan to increase production in the coming year.
But certainly not all growers are in the same boat. A closer look shows this year, 57% of the growers responding say they make more than 75% of their sales direct to market. By contrast, 16% say less than 10% of their sales are direct to market. That means this year’s survey results more closely reflected the makeup of fruit growers nationwide, as there are many more small farms, which are more likely to sell direct to market.
As far as the top issues, growers propelled government regulations, which had ranked third or fourth in past years, to the top of the charts. Keeping in mind that growers were asked their top three issues, here are the top issues facing American fruit growers: government regulations, 45%; labor, 44%; production costs, 40%; insect and disease pressure, 33%; and crop prices, 31%. No other issue topped 20%.
HOT TOPICS
Aside from the core issues to their business, growers sounded off on a few questions that have been hot topics in the industry. Here are a few interesting tidbits gleaned from the survey.
- GMO fruit. The survey asked: “Would you produce a genetically modified (GMO) crop if one was available to you?” Just a hair under 50% said “no.” Of the ones who replied in the affirmative, 34% say it would be OK if GMOs offered production advantages for the grower, and 14% say they would if the fruit had consumer benefits. (The percentages don’t always add up to 100%, as some growers say they don’t know or decline to state.)
- Global warming. Another divisive topic was climate change. The question: “Do you believe in man-made climate change?” Just more than half, or 54%, say they do, and 48% say they do not.
- Succession planning. But perhaps the most worrisome results from the survey are in response to this question: “Do you have anyone from the GenNext Grower generation (born after 1970) who is preparing to assume, or has assumed, leadership in your operation?”
Less than half the respondents, 43%, say they do, and 57% do not.
IT’S NOT ABOUT THE PETTING ZOO
Direct-market farmers told us over and over again that it’s not the agritainment that brings customers back for more — it’s simply a great product, produced well.
“Quality, Quality, Quality,” one grower emphasizes in capital letters. “Pick produce when it is ready, not when you’re ready. We only really control one thing when we grow: When you pick it, pick it at the proper time.”
Says another of his offerings: “Tree-ripe fruit that tastes like it is supposed to taste. This cannot be found in grocery stores — apparently only at farmers’ markets or fruit stands.”
Finally, one direct-market grower says they’re recognizing success in the long run is as much about the customers as it is the fruit.
“We try to focus our efforts on young families with the hope of them growing a relationship with us as their farmers. In this manner, we hope they will make the extra stop when shopping to include our fruits and products. And we make really good donuts.”
TOP 10 ADVICE FOR GROWERS
Each year, the State of the Fruit and Nut Industry survey yields a wealth of interesting information. But some of the really clear-eyed insights come when we ask the nation’s fruit and nut crop consultants one single question : If you could offer the average grower one piece of advice, what would it be?
Here’s a sampling from this year’s responses.
- Figure out what it costs you to grow a pound or cwt of your product — all of your major crops. How do you know what a fair price is?
- Move out of labor-intensive crops.
- Don’t be cheap. Make the inputs necessary to raise your quality and know the best crops to grow on your land.
- Talk to the people who sell your fruit; ask questions.
- For new growers: Don’t try to grow everything. Pick two or three crops and get really, really good at growing and marketing those before you start to add things. For established growers, be willing to try new things, consider taking an apprentice under your wing.
- Make sure you have legal water rights.
- Try to diversify your business and possibly pursue novel markets. Consider fresh marketing fruit to local sources, as this is a big movement. I have seen a fair number of growers expanding into the organic industry because they can see higher ROI, maybe consider this as an option.
- Connect with the public. Evaluate what varieties and systems are not making you money and remove them.
- Stay on top of food safety and quality. New store buyers are wanting textbook perfection. There are only so many outs for fruit slightly less than perfect, and this will greatly affect your bottom line.
- There aren’t any “average” growers. If they are still farmers, they are exceptional.
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