CONSERVATION

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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 40
Factors Driving the Recovery and Use of Heirloom Fruits, Nuts and Oil Trees FRUITS Link to recovery of local identity, culture and community Health b e n e fi t s related to nutritional value Reaching youth, elders and low income households Promoting diversity in urban/suburban backyard food production Recovering from climate catastrophes, adapting to change Providing taste/options to GMOs or industrial pro- cessed foods Focus on artisanal processing, jobs in local economies Baby Crawford peach X X X Black Republican cherry X X Bronx grape X X Burford pear X X Green Newtown Pippin X X X X apple Harrison cider apple X Meyer lemon X X X X X X Oldmixon Free peach Sierra Beauty apple Silver Logan peach NUTS, OILS X X X X X Black Sphinx date X X X X Fuerte avocado X X X X Mission olives X X X X X X X 41
Page 1: CONSERVATION YOU CAN TASTE Best Pra
Page 4 and 5: FOREWORD by Melissa Kogut, Executiv
Page 6 and 7: PREFACE by Megan Larmer, Manager of
Page 8 and 9: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY by Gary Paul Nabh
Page 10 and 11: documented over the following pages
Page 12 and 13: INTRODUCTION What is Food Biodivers
Page 14 and 15: One Indicator of How Heirloom Food
Page 16 and 17: VEGETABLES, LEGUMES, GRAINS & ROOT
Page 18 and 19: miraculous. Amish deer tongue lettu
Page 20 and 21: WHITE SONORA WHEAT: Adding Heritage
Page 22 and 23: different from growing modern varie
Page 24 and 25: “DATIL” DO IT: Where Pride in A
Page 26 and 27: instructor, Eddie Lambert, that stu
Page 28 and 29: A SPUD UNLIKE THE OTHERS: Ups and D
Page 30 and 31: In 2006, 500 pounds of seed was pur
Page 32 and 33: CAROLINA GOLD RICE: The Low Country
Page 34 and 35: Glenn Roberts farmers who wanted to
Page 36 and 37: A STAY-AT-HOME KIND OF SUCCESS: The
Page 38 and 39: Gordo pays farmers better than comm
Page 42 and 43: “One reason we are still making a
Page 44 and 45: HARRISON CIDER APPLES: From the Bri
Page 46 and 47: Chuck and Anne Shelton of Abermarle
Page 48 and 49: HERITAGE AGRI-TOURISM As a Strategy
Page 50 and 51: Some of these guides are in printed
Page 52 and 53: visitor’s center itself has pomeg
Page 54 and 55: LIVESTOCK & POULTRY BREEDS WE NOW L
Page 56 and 57: Heritage LIVESTOCK Recovery Trends
Page 58 and 59: Heritage POULTRY Recovery Trends 19
Page 60 and 61: GRASSFED BISON RECOVERY: Ranching t
Page 62 and 63: manager. “the biggest challenges
Page 64 and 65: 64
Page 66 and 67: THE RETURN OF THE NAVAJO-CHURRO SHE
Page 68 and 69: Churro Sheep Registry, which has be
Page 70 and 71: EMERGING CHALLENGES, OBSTACLES AND
Page 72 and 73: BEST PRACTICES AT THE SAME TIME, th
Page 74 and 75: more cost-effective to subsidize th
Page 76 and 77: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS THE CONTRIBUTORS to

CONSERVATION

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