Apples Go High Tech

To say that five generations of the Slaybaugh family have evolved a modest fruit business into a large and more efficient wholesale producer by increasing the density of their plantings belies the full scope of Mt. Ridge Farms’ vision, innovation and scientific acumen. They’re a hard-working tribe to boot.

What began in the early 1900s as a small crop and cattle farm with a few apple trees in the rolling hills near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, has blossomed into a spread of more than 650 acres of progressively managed apples and peaches destined for direct sale to packing and processing markets. At the heart of the farm’s core values is this belief: If you’re not changing, you’ll soon be out of business.

Through the years, the families of Glen Allen (known as GA), then Dick, Steve and now Dave Slaybaugh and his son, Blake, have strived to lead the industry with practices focusing on environmental stewardship, employee safety, as well as labor and production efficiency. To accomplish this, they harness the advantages that technology, research and experience offer. Also required is the stomach for a certain amount of risk. That’s above and beyond the regular pest and weather risks inherent  in farming.

“Anytime you assume an aggressive attitude about decisions you make for the farm, you have to understand that there will be failures,” Dave says. Some examples are planting new test varieties or trying out new planting systems. A percentage end up on the trash heap. Move on.

Tight row spacing
The most observable change to the orchards over the years is the spacing between trees in a row and between rows. Originally, they used a 20’ x 40’ template for plantings totaling about 50

trees per acre but have continued to decrease the spacing year after year so that now, the Slaybaughs manage between 1,500 and 2,000 trees per acre. In some of their youngest orchard blocks, the rows are only 10 feet apart with trees spaced every 18 inches.

Coupled with the increase in density came necessary modifications to the planting systems. The Slaybaughs now plant dwarf varieties of trees close together and train them to  a post and vertical wire trellis system that runs the length of the row. This produces a “fruiting wall” with a 12” to 18” canopy that leads to better fruit quality and size. Dave says they earn higher returns with this system by achieving a 90% “pack out,” a 30% improvement. Dave, Blake and their crew are pros at installing the posts and high-tension wire, drawing from eight spools at once. Last count, they ran thousands of feet in a single day.

Narrow spacing prompted the Slaybaughs to look for compact equipment that could perform sharp, quick turns. Their fleet of more than 36 New Holland tractors — mostly narrow specialty tractors in the 75- to 100-hp range — have great hydraulics for all the specialty attachments they use in the orchards and offer a comfortable ride, Dave says. He particularly likes the front-attach design of some models that put the business end of your equipment right in front of you as  you drive. 

Two such implements are the defoliator — casually called the “leaf blower” — and the hedger. Each has a special job that helps Dave and Blake maintain the fruiting walls. The defoliator uses pressurized air delivered at just the right angle to shred some of the leaves, increasing light interception and helping to produce a more colorful apple much desired by the customer. The hedger trims limbs to the desired two-dimensional system of the fruiting wall and greatly reduces the hours previously spent  hand pruning.

The Slaybaughs carefully evaluate the payback of all these investments, gauging how they affect production goals, costs and efficiencies. “We recently purchased another 40 acres,” Dave says. “These investments will help to ensure the business is here and profitable for our next generation.” Blake and his wife Terra have two sons under the age of 7.

Love the land, look out for your people
Sometimes you get a “two-fer” with a building project or an equipment purchase. Such is the case with the unique spray sheds Dave and Blake built in six locations on the farm. Constructed over a containment pit in case of spills, these sheds provide their spray operators with an organized, well-equipped and safe location to fill up and mix their tanks. Full-service restrooms with showers provide clean and sanitary rest stations. “We always want to be proactive, not reactive,” Dave says. Self-propelled, four-person picking platforms eliminate the safety hazard of ladders and increase picking efficiency. With their scissor-lift design, they’re handy for other tasks, too, such as pruning, thinning and stringing wire.

A farm of this size and scope means you’re in the “people business” as much as you’re in the apple business. Steve Slaybaugh — Dave’s dad — may no longer be an owner-manager at Mt. Ridge, but he’s still an integral part of the team. Most of his skill ties him to a well-outfitted farm shop, where he works year-round to help keep 140 pieces of equipment in good working order. He’s also an equipment operator, certified pesticide applicator and snack distributor for the great-grandkids.

Blake is also an able mechanic and active in all the orchard operations such as planting, training young trees, trimming and directing employees’ work. He pursued a year-long internship in Washington State in 2014 where he networked and peppered the growers with questions, eager to bring back new ideas he could implement aggressively at Mt. Ridge Farms. “He’s a leader,” Dave says. “I know that he’s committed to shedding sweat and tears to build this business. His heart’s in it.”

Dave likes everything about the business, from planning the next planting, to choosing new varieties and rootstock, to learning how to use new technologies, to wrenching in the shop. “You watch the dormant trees flower and then make fruit. Seeing ripe fruit in bulk bins headed off to the packer gives us all a great sense of accomplishment.” 

Dave’s wife, Wendy, and Blake’s wife, Terra, tackle the mountain of recordkeeping, labor and financial paperwork in the Mt. Ridge Farms main office. Recently, Terra became the farm’s food safety expert, handling everything from audits to managing spray records and re-entry times. There are so many bits of data to keep track of, even a local computer programmer can’t wrap his head around how to find or write a program to capture it all.

Harvest time from the end of July to mid-November adds 60 seasonal field workers to the year-round staff of 10 plus the five Slaybaughs. Dave and Blake provide on-farm housing for this crew and utilize their best labor management expertise to train, coach and direct workflow to achieve the highest levels of employee safety and efficiency. Despite the short window of employment for the largest number of workers, “All our workers know us, and we know them,” Dave says.

New strain, big surprise
More than a dozen years ago, Steve and his wife, Judy, found  a single tree of ripe Honeycrisp apples on August 11, a date roughly three weeks ahead of the popular variety’s usual ripening time. After tasting it, they confirmed that it was ready for picking. They took one home to Dave and with that, the Slaybaughs embarked on a long and complicated journey of discovery that eventually led to achieving a patent on what is now known as the “Premier Honeycrisp,” or DAS 10 Cltv. This mutation has all the qualities of the regular Honeycrisp and reliably extends the Honeycrisp season an extra 20-21 days.

The Slaybaughs are an upbeat, optimistic lot. However, Dave admits there are two areas that most challenge their progress. One is severe weather such as windstorms or hail that can injure the apple trees, making them susceptible to fire blight. There’s no 100% cure for this disease that can spread quickly through  a young block of trees and kill them.

Biologicals are a new technology Mt. Ridge Farms is adopting to expand options for addressing several disease and insect assaults. Dave works with a crop consultant to choose the right approach and product, and regularly attends meetings to stay up to date about new products coming on the market.

Labor is another area of concern. “The H2-A program could be a lot easier to use,” he says. “And if we suddenly couldn’t hire enough workers for harvest, it would be devastating.” When the first mechanical harvesters become available, “I’m gonna’ be on top of the signup sheet to buy one,” Dave says.

To learn more about the Slaybaughs’ apple farm,  visit mtridgefarms.com.