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Maine's apple harvest is underway, and orchard owners in western and central Maine say that while conditions this year affected each grower differently and caused some reduction in yield, there will be plenty of top-notch apples this fall.
"The quality of the fruit out there is actually excellent," said Peter Ricker of Wallingford's Fruit House in Auburn. "Our concern is primarily the quantity of fruit."
Ricker is an owner of Ricker Hill Orchards in Turner and manages roughly 120 acres of apple trees on the Wallingford tract, just a part of the Ricker family's 400-acre operation that includes blueberries and cranberries across three counties.
There's a lot to consider, and not just about how this year's drought has affected yields and quality, but how it will affect next year's crop, Ricker said.
"The trees at this point are preparing themselves for next year," Ricker explained. "Next year's crop is sitting on the trees right now in buds, and those buds are still needing water."
The orchard has relied on irrigation to keep trees healthy. Over the years, the family has invested in drip irrigation to replace water guns, which were "wasteful and expensive to run," Ricker said.
"It's amazing because (outcomes) will vary from one part of the field to another," Ricker said. "Depending upon the sun, the wind ... up in Turner might be different from Auburn just because it might be a little bit warmer, slightly different conditions."
Statewide trends confirm what Ricker sees locally.
Paul Peters, owner of Chick's Apple and Berry Farm in Monmouth and a crop consultant for other orchards, said the general apple crop in Maine fared well despite varying conditions across the state and poor pollination conditions during bloom.
Orchards with deeper soils and consistent moisture are faring better than those in drier northern areas, though even growers seeing lower yields still have enough fruit for pick-your-own operations, Peters said. The orchardist emphasized that some areas just have better soil quality and don't require the kind of irrigation that otherwise makes a difference for growing apples.
"Growers up in (areas north of Waterville) that I know suffered more," Peters said. "Being in Monmouth, our soils are excellent for apples in that they hold a lot of moisture."
Peters emphasized that most orchards are producing an average yield.
The West Paris-based Cooper Farms -- the largest producer of apples in New England -- boasts over 1,000 acres of orchards from Oxford to Kennebec counties and management of the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village orchard in New Gloucester.
Cooper said his yield compared to last year's is roughly 70%, but pickers are still picking, yielding between 7,000 and 8,000 bushels of Honeycrisp every day. Honeycrisps are a biennial crop, meaning they will produce less during off-years.
"(But) everything's gone along pretty smoothly. The weather has been perfect for harvest. We've only lost one picking day to rain, and otherwise we've been working seven days a week," Cooper said, adding that several smaller growers have had to buy apples from him due to low yields.
"Overall we ended up with a fair crop. Not quite normal, but not nearly as bad as what I've heard from others."
Cooper Farms supplies apples to wholesale buyers through the winter and spring beginning around Thanksgiving, Cooper said. For large operations like his, storage quality can matter as much as conditions in the field, since much of the crop isn't sold until months after harvest. The farm expects to fill multiple controlled-atmosphere storage rooms this fall.
Unlike smaller orchards, Cooper said his farm does very little irrigation, explaining that historically "it hasn't paid" for an operation on their scale. Still, he noted that location makes a difference as some of his orchards fared better than others depending on soil and rain patterns.
As for next year, Cooper expects another good season assuming the spring and summer weather cooperates and pollinators make their rounds.
"We don't worry much," Cooper said. "We expect next year to be a good year. We're able to supply a lot of people with apples, so even in a dry year, we can't complain too much."
Renae Moran, a University of Maine Cooperative Extension tree fruit specialist, helps run the extension's Highmoor Farm in Monmouth. Moran said feedback from orchards across the state has also been mixed.
Last year's drought affected flower bud formation, which impacted flowering this spring and apple yields later in the year, Moran said. For some orchards, yields were severely low, but most orchards had enough for a full crop this year. Timing of stress matters as well, Moran noted, since conditions from one season can carry over into the next and determine how much fruit trees are able to produce.
"Trees are very resilient, and they have a way of (producing) apples every year," Moran said. "So, I don't think customers are likely to see much of an impact when they go out to pick apples this year."
Shortfalls are felt more acutely by growers than by customers, though, Moran said. Pick-your-own orchards usually have enough apples to meet demand even in lower-yield years.
For Ricker and other orchard owners, the combination of weather, careful irrigation and resilient crops mean that while apples may be smaller in some spots, the taste and availability remain high.
"There's plenty of apples for everybody -- they're available almost nine months in the grocery stores -- and you can buy local from (bigger producers) like Ricker and Cooper, who both sell to Hannaford," Peters said. "One way to support local growers is to go to the store and ask for local producers' apples ... or to go out of your way to a farm stand and try to buy local and support local farmers."
Ultimately, while customers are taking home smaller bags of apples, Ricker said traffic at Wallingford's is "good and steady."
On taste, he added, "My grandfather always used to say there's the same amount of taste no matter the size of the apple. The apples are honestly tasting very good."