CONSERVATION

FRUITS, NUTS, & BERRIES
THE NUMBER of orchards maintained in the U.S. has suffered a precipitous
decline over the last century. For example, there were over 200 million apple trees in
home and commercial orchards in the U.S. a century ago, and by 1950, there were
less than 50 million apple trees left in the U.S. Today there are only 7500 commercial
apple orchards in the country, and their acreage has declined by 15% since 1997.
Today, 90 percent of all apples sold in chain grocery stores in our country come from
just 11 varieties of the 3000 varieties still available through on-line sources or catalogs.
Six of the major apple juice producers in the U.S. have gone out of business since
2001, leaving only two U.S.-based companies to compete with China for providing
our populace with both apple juice and frozen puree. Similar statistics could be
offered for other fruits and nuts.
Despite such consolidation and outsourcing, there were at least 275 fruit, nut and
berry nurseries companies with catalogs or on-line listings in the U.S. and Canada by
2009, up from 248 companies in 1987. These 275 inventories offer over 8750 fruit,
nut and berry varieties to American and Canadian orchard-keepers in North America
today.
While hundreds of independently-owned nurseries have closed their gates due to
the proliferation of “psuedo-nursery” garden centers attached to big box stores, other
modes of fruit and nut tree exchange have emerged. Today, thousands of orchardkeepers
come to exchange scion wood and learn grafting techniques at seasonal events
sponsored by the Home Orchard Society in the Northwest, MOFGA in Maine, the
Worcester County Horticultural Society in Massachusetts, the Midwestern Fruit
Explorers, and California Rare Fruit Explorers.
The driving factor that appears most important to the re-diversification of fruit
and nut orchards is the opportunity to access taste options not available in a few
standard varieties; adding diversity to home orchards with urban and suburban areas
is also catching wind. These taste options not only include the flavor profiles of fresh
dessert apples, but a revival of hard cider and fruit brandy making in the United
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