Acta Horticulturae

Participants of the symposium.
Switzerland, Holland, Australia, Spain, Belgium,
Romania, Slovenia and Croatia. Participants
included scientists, growers, federal, provincial
and state government employees, technical
persons from commercial companies and
employees of large grocery chains. The presentations
were of high quality and encouraged
participation from those in attendance. The
meeting location and the warm hospitality
extended by the host committee and its representatives
provided an excellent environment
for networking and foundation building for this
First Organic Apple and Pear Symposium.
The meeting was opened by Dr. Leslie
MacLaren, Vice President (Academic) of the
NSAC, and Dr. Roy Bush, Research Manager of
the AFHRC, of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada, representing the science program
manager for sustainable production systems,
and Dr. Robert Prange, Chair of CMOR, ISHS.
Dr. David Sugar of Oregon State University
(USA) explaining the results of research on
alternatives to fungicides in pear post harvest
decay control.
The technical program was opened by an excellent
presentation from Dr. Franco Weibel from
the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
(FiBL), Switzerland. The comprehensive talk
containing excerpts from years of research
effort was titled, “A European and Swiss
Perspective on Organic Apple Production: Past
Successes and Future Challenges”.
The second keynote address was presented by
Dr. Curt Rom, of the University of Arkansas. This
excellent, soul-searching presentation centered
on the philosophy of organic production and
was titled, “Science-based Organic Production
Technology: Challenges and Opportunities for
Pomologists and Producers”.
The technical program consisted of five oral sessions,
at which fourteen papers were presented.
There were two poster sessions at which
ten posters were offered. A short field trip was
also provided; which included a tour of the
research facilities at AAFC’s Atlantic Food and
Horticulture Research Centre, Kentville. This
was a particularly fitting visit in that the early
research on integrated pest management in
orchards was initiated at Kentville in the mid
1940’s by Dr. Pickett and his team of entomologists.
They were the first to discover the potential
for allowing predators and parasites to provide
pest control. The conference presentations
were organized into the following categories:
a) Pest Management
b) Nutrition/Management
c) Variety Evaluation and Development
d) Post-harvest/Storage
The plant protection aspect is always a challenge
since simple substitution of materials is
not the long-term goal of organic production.
At the present time a lot of pest control
depends on the use of new natural bio-control
products. Obviously there is an increasing inte-
rest in the discovery of novel new bio-control
products. Testing their impact on the target
pest is the first goal. Studying the influence on
the whole system was identified as a major
challenge for research.
The production management sessions included
a number of papers that outlined the current
status. It was interesting to see the progress of
organic production in many countries in the
world, but also to hear about the challenges
and the great needs for research-based information.
The potential for breeding is clear, and the
importance of incorporating disease resistance
is critical for developing long-term organic production.
The challenge to develop new high
quality scab resistant cultivars has been addressed
by generations of breeders. New promising
selections are under evaluation worldwide,
and some new cultivars are already in commercial
production.
Organically produced apples need to be properly
and effectively stored. Research into storing
organically-grown tree fruit made an important
contribution to the symposium.
A unique aspect of this symposium was the
panel discussion with the following four organic
apple producers from eastern Canada,
Maine and Ontario.
❚ Mike Hutton: Hutlo Acres, Knowlesville, New
Brunswick (CAN)
❚ Doug Nichols: Apple Lane Farm Inc., Berwick,
Nova Scotia (CAN)
❚ Steve Meyerhans: The Apple Farm/Lakeside
Orchard, Manchester, Maine (USA)
❚ Patrick Johnson: The Appletop Farm,
Clarksburg, Beaver Valley Area, Ontario
(CAN)
Each producer outlined their experience with
organic tree fruit production followed by a live-
ISHS • 50