Vermont pick-your-own orchards rely on a narrow window of good weather to make their season pay

The useful part

ESSEX JUNCTION — The Murdock family spends money on their apple trees all year long. Still, these businesses operate at the mercy of New England's fall weather. Even a few rainy days can tilt the balance, determining the success or failure of the entire year.

How it works

• Though they've lost a few profitable days to rain, this year has been decent so far, Murdock said.
• Despite a frost that came at a critical point in April, Terry Bradshaw, chair of the Department of Agriculture, Landscape and Environment at University of Vermont, said the apple trees this season are in...
• "If we had too much moisture, we end up with disease problems, and we aren't really having a lot of that.
• So it's just been a generally good year." Vermont pick-your-own orchards entered their peak season last weekend, which will last until mid-October.
• The majority of apples grown in Vermont were shipped to other places 30 years ago, he said, but things started to shift at the turn of the century, leaving Vermont wholesale apples in the dust.

What to take from it

We did half the business on Sunday than we did on Saturday just because of the forecast." Luckily, Bair said, a loyal customer base can serve as a lifeline because some pickers come out despite the weather. "This year we're going to pick-your-own right through the end of October because hopefully it's going to be 65 and sunny right through Halloween." An agritourism pivot Vermont's apple industry has always been a prominent agricultural moneymaker, Bradshaw said. Larger apple industries set up shop in places with different topography, since large-scale farming machinery is more difficult to operate on Vermont's hilly terrain.

Example or evidence

• The cost of growing apples — encompassing fuel costs for farm machinery, labor costs, and maintenance and repair costs of farm infrastructure and equipment — builds with each month of the year.
• It's difficult to fight against economies of scale, Bradshaw said, so many apple farms began a pivot towards agritourism in the form of pick-your-own apple orchards.
• Often, the orchards also offer apple cider, cider donuts and other local products for sale, as well as offering hay rides and other activities, as is the case at Chapin Orchard.
• "Pumpkin patch runners and corn maze makers." The transitioning to pick-your-own orchards, along with fresh orchards that sprung up in the past two decades, have created places for Vermonters to gather.

Details worth keeping

When it isn't, the apples wait, and sometimes they fall. "I can have the most beautiful crop," Phil Murdock said. "But if people aren't here to pick it, frankly, it's going to end up on the ground." In the past two decades, pick-your-own apple orchards have blossomed across Vermont, where apples rank third in agricultural revenue behind the state's more signature dairy and maple syrup industries.

Related coverage

• Northernvirginiamag: Apple and peach crops were hit particularly hard this year. Read More
• Mynbc5: View the interactive map to see orchards and farms in Vermont that are still offering U Pick apples this season, and continue scrolling to see locations in northern New York.
• Newstalkkit: Weather threw a wrench in the usual apple forecast playbook. State tree fruit leaders are pumping the brakes on predictions until after harvest wraps up. Continue reading…
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