Annual picking of crop down a bit this year, grower reports
The crisp fall air is a reminder that it is harvest time for
crisp, local apples in San Benito County.
Orchardist Anthony Botelho, who along with Ken Perry operates
B
&
amp;P Fruit Co., said his crews wrapped up their harvest last
week after picking 300 to 350 bins of apples per day since early
September.
Annual picking of crop down a bit this year, grower reports
The crisp fall air is a reminder that it is harvest time for crisp, local apples in San Benito County.
Orchardist Anthony Botelho, who along with Ken Perry operates B&P Fruit Co., said his crews wrapped up their harvest last week after picking 300 to 350 bins of apples per day since early September.
“It’s a shame that orchards are disappearing in this area because the fruit produced here is so good,” said Botelho, who farms approximately 150 acres between the San Juan Valley, the Four Corners area near Dunneville, and Gilroy.
From orchards a decade old to those more than 30 years old, Botelho raises red delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji and Newtown pippins that are then sold to S. Martinelli & Co. in Watsonville, where the fruit is turned into apple juice.
“In the past I used to pack the apples and send them throughout the country and exported them as well,” said Botelho, who also serves on the county Board of Supervisors. “It’s less risky to send them to Martinelli, the Cadillac of apple juice.”
Botelho, who has been in business for nearly a quarter-century, growing apples on leased land and on property originally owned by his grandfather, said this year’s crop was “a little lighter” than in years past.
“All in all, it wasn’t a bad crop, it was just a little bit lighter coming on the heels of a big crop the year before,” he said, adding that a cooler spring during the pollination period likely cut into the yield a bit.
Having also grown apples in the Central Valley, Botelho said the growing conditions in San Benito County are ideal.
“You just can’t compare the two areas,” he said. “San Benito County is really blessed with perfect weather for growing crops for most of the year. The flavor of our apples is superior compared with the stuff we used to grow in the valley.”
The local apple harvest season runs from early September to the end of October, but the work does not end there, Botelho said.
“We go right back to work and start cleaning up broken limbs, working our ground prep for next year,” he said. “We’ll start pruning in about a month and in the spring we’ll put dormant oil on the trees. When the buds start moving again we’ll apply fungicide and pesticide, so there’s not really any break.”
Approximately 70 workers pick apples by hand for B&P, which ships them to Watsonville for processing.
There are more than 450 apple growers in the state, according to the California Apple Commission. California is the fourth-highest apple producing state. Though the industry dates back to the 1800s in Watsonville, Sebastopol and some coastal regions, the commission says “serious commercial production” has only occurred in the past two decades.
