Mitch Lynd Named 1995 Apple Grower of the Year

MITCH Lynd, the 1995 Apple Grower of the Year, may be officially retired as of January 1 of this year, but he still possesses a keen eye for the factors that define success
in the apple industry.

“In this worldwide global competition, you don’t stand a chance unless you have patentable products and an‘unfair advantage’ such as exclusive rights to a new apple variety or a prime location for a U-Pick operation,” he says.

According to Lynd, utilizing your unfair advantage is crucial because returns to production agriculture pale in comparison to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Growers can no longer afford to view apples as a commodity. In an increasingly urbanized world, growers must contend with issues from aggressive orchard land business development to stringent food safety requirements.

Lynd deems food safety to be a new issue growers are facing largely because there has been no effort made on the part of commercial buyers to understand the growers’ perspective, and in turn, buyers make absurd demands on growers in regard to food
safety requirements. “I don’t think the buyers realize how absurd their requests are. I don’t want to work with them because of it. No amount of money is worth that,” he says.

Although retired, Lynd is still active in the industry. He is a passive investor in Lynd Fruit
Farm Inc., of Pataskala, OH, and is president of the Midwest Apple Improvement Association. Lynd considers the breeding program, which he started with Ed Fackler for the purpose of producing quality apples that could withstand adverse conditions,
one of the most significant advancements he has seen since he won the award. Lynd feels the organization can make even more progress than it has already. “I want to lead the association to success by helping them to develop new apple varieties,” he says.

THE look of an apple orchard has changed significantly over the years, but one thing sure hasn’t, says Chuck Peters: Good growers stay on their toes and aren’t afraid to make changes. For that very reason, Peters says his greatest accomplishment in the apple industry was being an innovator and early adapter of V-trellises in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

But followed close behind that accomplishment, says Peters, was working to give apple growers a political voice. As president of the Washington State Horticultural Association (WSHA) in 1990, Peters established HORTPAC. “They called us the 800-pound gorilla in Olympia (the state’s capital) because we were the only ag group in Olympia,” said Peters during the commemoration of the WSHA’s 100th anniversary. “You have to be active politically.”

A lot has changed since Peters was selected Apple Grower of the Year. Most notably, Peters says labor is much more of a problem today. But getting involved in politics remains as important, in part to help solve new problems that crop up, and the labor
shortage is a perfect example.

Another big change in the industry is that technology has become more important. That, combined with advances in genetics/genomics— Peters noted that Washington State
University (WSU) recently announced a project to map the apple genome — will
mean big changes in the orchard of the future. Peters envisions a dwarfing orchard
loaded with big, sweet, crunchy “target” fruit being picked by a robot. “That’s why I’m glad WSU is on the cutting edge,” he says. “These efforts are going to be a major thrust
of research in the future.”

However, one thing likely won’t change: A good grower is still going to have to stay on his toes. “This business is going to be changing even more rapidly,” he says. “Keep updating your strategic plan, or you’re going to be in trouble in a hurry.”

ADAPTING to change was always a key element to the way J. Roscoe Crist, American Fruit Grower’s 1993 Apple Grower of the Year, did business. Crist’s willingness to break new ground and work on behalf of the apple industry earned him the award in its fifth year, not to mention a great deal of respect throughout the industry. Crist Brothers Orchards Inc. was founded in 1882 by Roscoe’s grandfather as a small general farm and transformed into an apple orchard by his father. Roscoe and his brother Edward took over in the 1950s. Today, Crist says staying in business for more than 50 years was
his most important accomplishment, and credits his “ability to adopt new practices as they came along.” Quoting Alexander Pope, he says, “Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside.”

Crist was honored for the key role he played in helping to resolve apple industry pesticide issues through his role as a member and chairman of the International Apple Institute’s Environmental Affairs Committee.

The committee succeeded in surveying apple growers and packers to determine actual pesticide use in order to replace then inaccurate pesticide estimates, which has helped bolster the industry’s image as an environmentally responsible one. Crist was also
recognized for his support of industry research and work to unite the nation’s apple industry to work together, as well as his involvement in the formation of Storm
King, a grower-owned marketing corporation, and early adoption of new technology
like controlled atmosphere storage into his operation.

Now eight years retired from the apple business, Roscoe Crist still stays involved by “keeping his eyes open” out in the orchards that his nephew Jeff Crist, winner of the 2007 Apple Grower of the Year award, currently oversees. From all of his years as an apple grower, Roscoe Crist says the most valuable thing he took away was the goodness of his fellow growers.

“The people you meet, the people in the industry, tend to be very intelligent, hardworking people.”

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