Bumper crop for apple growers in Norfolk

“Really good fruit quality from top to bottom (and) really nice weather throughout harvest for picking.”
When asked which variety was looking especially good this season, both Cleaver and Brett Schuyler of Schuyler Farms chose the Ambrosia, popular for its sweetness and low acidity.
“It’s a big, good-quality apple crop,” said Schuyler, whose approximately 1,000 acres of orchards produce roughly half the apples grown in Norfolk.
“Coming out of a shaky spring with frost, the crop’s turned out better than we would have guessed,” he said.
“There’s a good opportunity to sell lots of local fruit in Ontario,” he said.
Haldimand-Norfolk only trails Grey County for apple production in Ontario, according to the provincial agriculture ministry. In 2020, Haldimand-Norfolk farmers grew just under 55 million pounds of apples on 2,080 acres.
“It’s the difference between growing apples and not growing apples,” added Schuyler, who employs around 400 people through the federally administered Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program.
That there are more apples to sell this year than last is the good news for farmers. Whether the added revenue will make up for an estimated 20-per-cent hike in fuel and fertilizer costs remains to be seen.
Retailers also need their slice of the pie, he noted, leaving small margins for farmers.
But pricing apples is a balancing act, Dooney said, since consumers will only accept so much sticker shock on what is traditionally a lower-priced fruit.
“We’re trying to sell this crop for decent money to give fair returns back to growers, but we’re definitely understanding of our place in the marketplace as well,” he said.
J.P. Antonacci is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.