Dr. Tree Fruit and Don
This podcast focuses on providing timely commercial tree fruit production advice for beginning industry professionals and seasoned growers. Educators from Penn State Extension and faculty from Penn State University’s horticulture, entomology, and plant pathology departments drop in to give insights and observations about what is going on in the orchards.
Dr. Tree Fruit and Don
Season 7, Episode 1 - Introducing Dr. Sara Serra
We welcome our new pomologist, Dr. Sara Serra, and dig into how pruning, harvest timing, and vision tech can raise fruit quality across apples, pears and peaches.
The Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention begins Jan 27. Registration available on site. Winter Fruit Schools run Feb 10–19 across regions.
Photo Credit: Dr. Rob Crassweller, Penn State
Music Credit: “The Raven and the Swan” by Josh Woodward is licensed under a Attribution 3.0 United States License. Courtesy of FreeMusicArchive.org
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Flight Seasonalities of Main Fruit Pests During the Growing Season
All right, welcome back once again, everybody. I'm Don Seafer. It's the Dr. Tree Fruit and Dawn Podcast. It is Thursday, January 22nd. Happy New Year, happy holidays, all that other good stuff. Since we have not seen you or talked to you in a long, long time, I'm here with Dr. Carrie Peter. Say hi, Carrie.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, how's it going?
SPEAKER_02:And for the first time ever on the podcast, we have Dr. Sarah Sarah. Say hi, Sarah.
SPEAKER_00:Hi, everybody.
SPEAKER_02:So uh for those of you who don't know, Sarah's our new pomologist.
SPEAKER_00:Um located at well, located at the right, the in Big Loville. Yep. And for those of you who know Jim Shoop, that's the position that she took over.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so why don't you tell everybody a little bit about yourself, where you're from, uh where you did your PhD, what your previous work was, that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so hello everyone. I'm actually familiar with this podcast because I was listening to you um like last year before interviewing for this position. So, yes, I'm Italian, I'm originally from Bologna, uh a city in the north-central of Italy, uh, in a plain valley where we grow a lot of fruit, uh cherries, um, apple pear, a lot of peaches close to the sea, kiwi fruit. So um I start my study in uh agricultural biotechnology, actually. So I have no family tradition of farming or anything like that. So then a lot of people ask me how I came up with agriculture, right? Because I really was raised in the city, so a city girl, originally not anymore. So, no, my mom always loved plants, we always love to take care of plants together. I think that's where my original loves come from. And so I pursued this master in agricultural biotechnology. So I was mainly a um lab person. I did a lot of molecular biology and things like that. But after that, before starting my PhD, I had the opportunity to do a couple of years of technician work where I started exploring in my University of Bologna in the department of uh homology, uh, a lot of experiment in uh research. So I start being interesting in that. And I start my PhD actually in homology, horticulture is a long name in Italian, but it's the same thing. And I focus my study on pear trees and I combine molecular aspects of investigating um key genes involved in the response of salt stress in pear trees uh based on different root stocks, and I combine that with a real uh orchard where I took all uh data from the physiology point of view, I actually stressed the trees, uh, like an entire block of trees was irrigated with salt water, and I had my control and everything. So I was becoming also something else. And in the course of my PhD, for sure, I I learned, I learned a lot. And during that time, I had also the opportunity to come to the US for the first time with a you know fellowship. I spent nine months uh at Purdue University in Indiana. I was hosted by a very known professor in the horticulture department at Purdue that was focusing on the study of the sole stress genes in Arabidopsis. So basically, he was laughing at me because oh, you do trees, pear trees, and salt, why that? And so it was very nice to be there and get you know to know the American system. Was a little bit of a cultural shock at the beginning, but yeah, it was great. And yeah, after that, uh after my PhD, I had like four years of um postdoc, still at the University of Bologna with my professor, Dr. Stefano Muzaki. And at some point he said, I'm applying for a position in the US. Are you coming with me? And I said, sure. And then how the story began. So in 2013, in August, um I started my new position at Washington State University as again a research associate for Professor Muzaki that had a very uh important role as endowed chair in tree fruit production and orchard management. And we were located in Winachi in the core of the Apple business in Washington, but still in a research and extension center. So I'd never lived really the campus life. So for me, the previous job was very similar to where I am right now, a FREC. So uh research and extension center reality, where we interact with a grower and we are basically where the major uh growers are located, basically. During that time at um at Washington State University, my focus was uh mainly physiology orchard management in Apple, mainly and in Pair. The focus was for a long time uh one of the new releases Apple from Washington State University, Cosmic Crisp. And because it was all new and was the beginning of the evaluation for that variety in in orchard in pilot trials, we had to uh optimize the whole growing pro growing um criteria and guidelines for the grower when they were starting uh planting those trees. So it was a very uh great adventure. We did a lot of things from training system rustock, a lot of pollination, um trial to figure out the best pollinizer for the variety, pruning, training system, um top graft, and uh uh several studies on quality and consumer preference, on dry matter for the varieties. And I would say we try to face all the possible issues or you know, applied um research for the sake of the growers that they were going to plant this uh variety. Other than that, on pear, also a lot of work on pear cultivar or a study on pear roostok. Also, there we were evaluating some um varieties collected from all around the world to test the resilience of different varieties in Washington environment. That's as you might know is pretty harsh because of the um high temperature in summer and very dry. There is a humidity ranging from 18 to 30 percent, nothing more than that. It's very, very dry. And if we did not have the Columbia River to irrigate, that was not possible to have any any uh growing uh orchard. So um, yeah, that's what I was doing mainly in uh Washington State University, and then uh uh more recent uh research was uh uh focus on uh precision crop load management. I was part uh uh was part of the research team led by Terence Robinson overall, but obviously in Washington, Stefano Muzaki, that we set up like a coordinated experiment, multi-state experiment with New York, Michigan, uh, North Carolina, and Washington, where we were testing you know, crop load management, both hand thinning or chemical thinning to optimize the production for gala and honey crisp. And that was very, very nice uh set of experiments, very intense for three years. And we just had this uh wrapping up symposium with the growers to present the result. So I think for now I can stop.
SPEAKER_02:No, that was really good. That that's a really solid overview of all the places you've been, and and then you joined us in in what was that August was your start date, I think, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I start August 15th, so my fifth month is done. I start my sixth month now. Time flies. Yes. So I and I'm very grateful. I started that time, even if it's a little bit in the middle of the season, and I felt that because I was so enthusiastic. I want to, I'm still enthusiastic, I want to meet everybody, but was harvest. And as we know, harvest is crazy time. So I was you know visiting, I went with with Sudon, with uh with uh Daniel and Greg visiting Grower, that they found time for me, but you know, I felt was not the right uh you know moment in the season. But for me, it was very educational. I learned a lot. Uh they told me a lot of what they were doing, their needs, their their um yeah, their success, their struggle. So thanks to that, I could start having ideas of what to do and and where to go. So I think for me it was very good to start during harvest. In fact, I also start harvesting here at FREC because Professor Schupp left me 10, 11 orchard in full production. So I I I couldn't see the the fruit falling, right? So I had to start harvesting. So yeah, I start some uh preliminary data collection on some of those blocks, and uh it's very good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you started at a really interesting time because you did kind of get just to see the uh the whole broad swath of like what we were doing out east in my area and what was going on down in like Adams County and and near Freck. And uh, you know, then we went down to like Lancaster, and and I don't know, I thought those were really nice trips that everyone seemed super enthusiastic to like get the chance to chat with you and gosh, they like talked your ear off, and it is very impressive to watch you take notes because you are much better at it than I ever was.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, that's something uh you know, it's still like that since high school. I was in charge of taking notes for everybody, I guess. Just keep I keep going. No, no, I was very happy to meet the growers, and again, I I think I met a couple of dozen of them, and there are many more. So uh if I haven't visited yet, I'll come in the near future. Uh, but for me it was impressive to see the diversity of variety, and they grow 15 more apples, 15 peaches, all in the same farm. For me, it was like, wow, I really have never seen something like that. I was more used to you know larger, larger acreage of maybe few specific varieties of interest and keep going until you don't see the end of them, right? Here is just so different, and all the needs for each of the varieties can be different. So it requires so much knowledge and so much effort that's uh yeah, really impressed me. So I think was very, very again, very educational for me.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I know I know a lot of folks were really happy that you you took the time to like swing by and uh say hello and and get to know folks.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So I was gonna say, you kind of you kind of already answered this because I I was gonna ask like how you kind of got interested in like botany or plant sciences, but you had answered that like way at the beginning. Um because usually you don't usually when we talk to folks who get into homology or horticulture or that sort of thing, they have they have a farming background. Um, but as you said, that that was not the case. So that's uh that's really interesting. Did you have a different field of science that you were interested in, or was it always like, no, I want to do plants?
SPEAKER_01:No, I think I, you know, in high school I did like a scientific um type of high school, and I always loved science and biology, so that was already my guess. And then when I was it was time for me to choose between veterinary, you know, medical, industrial, and plants, I had no, I don't know why. I mean, from the gut, I had no doubts, plants, and that I always started. And you know, from being a lab person to become like a you know homologist, I really need to thank my advisor, uh Dr. Muzaki, because he taught me, you know, everything. And he was also making a joke of me that you made me become something else. So I'm still what I was before, but you know, kind of a sort of broader view, just going through things. And I'm grateful of my background because sometimes I see things a little bit from a different uh perspective that maybe I don't know the name of an insect or the name of a disease, like on top of my mind, but you know, different uh point of view sometimes can help. So I'm very uh happy with the paths I I had in my career so far.
SPEAKER_02:I can't remember who I was having this discussion with, but it wasn't all that long ago, and it was one of their favorite things of the spring meetings, which you have not gotten to partake in yet. Um it was uh when Carrie and Greg and whether it was Rob or Jim or whoever would come around early, and the three of them would all go around and and just look at the orchard for like, you know, an hour before the meeting would start, and they'd just get to like pick their brain and say, What do you think about this? And then Carrie and Greg would say, Well, I think it's this, I think it's this, and they'd go back and forth for a couple minutes, and then uh, you know, Greg or or Rob would say, Well, hold on, what about the plant itself? What about this? And uh that was always really fun for them. And uh I think that's a that's a fun three musketeers thing for folks to be able to do. And uh it's uh it's a nice system for for the growers to get the chance to have that like interaction with the specialists, and uh it's it's we we get so focused on our own uh fields, right? We it that broader picture of like, well, hold on, I should I should be talking to to my peers, to my coworkers about this is is really helpful.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I'm sure but here is uh FREC is uh really a unique opportunity that is all disciplines are represented, right? So and we all focus on trees. So I guess is is a good resource of all in one place. So I think we should take good advantage of that and do things together because again, we can reach more uh information, do better research. For me, that's kind of very intriguing part of this, like you know, being able to work with Carrie or or or Dave or Greg and different, you know, aspects that by myself I would not probably pursue. So that's probably uh very yeah, a very nice uh perspective for the future.
SPEAKER_02:So to get into some of that meat and potatoes, uh if you I know I know there's probably like 800 different topics you would like to work on over the next couple years, uh, but if you were gonna prioritize like three research topics, you know, barring any major catastrophe that comes down the pipeline, uh, what would you say that your like three main like research priorities you'd like to do would be for the for the next couple years?
SPEAKER_01:So I think the first one that is very close to me is pruning. And I know, I mean, nothing new in that, right? But uh I observe things and I know because of the shortage of labor, and again, everything said above, uh, pruning sometimes um gets a little bit neglected, could could get a little bit neglected. And and but I see that uh having a very important role in the whole canopy management for the following season. So all the discussion and the input I received about poor finishing or some apple varieties or you know, like uh disease pressure of some specific canopy with low porosity, for me is automatic thinking about we can do something with the pruning. And maybe again, I don't have a magic bond, I haven't even seen a full sea, I mean a season, entire season. So uh I'm not sure 100%, but I know where I want to try and what I want to try. So I want to do more renewal pruning, try to um uh kind of uh learn and observe where specific varieties are setting fruit, so work on the fruiting habits of the variety and prune accordingly because each variety uh can have a different fruiting style. So um, a lot of the time when the varieties set fruit on lateral flower bud of one year's old wood, it brings it leads to a poor quality. Those are very um different fruit that they set, they set later in the blooming time, and sometimes they get crowded and they are actually clustering um in a way that can uh obstruct the canopy and also again not optimizing the quality at all. So I'm gonna focus on that, in particular, starting with Sever Crisp that I heard is very appreciated by the consumer, but is is objectively um poor in uh uh uh um attributes from the aesthetic point of view. So it's not an attractive apple, but it's very tasty. So we I want to try to do something, and maybe you know everybody already tried. So I I don't want to be you know arrogant or nothing, but I have some ideas and I want to try that. So pruning and then combine pruning with try to optimize the harvest windows. I see I saw in general that like um sometimes harvest, maybe this uh 2025 was a little bit late sometimes because of such a peculiar season you had, maybe the maturity got pushed. But I saw a lot of situations where there was a higher college, like higher um disorders in the in general in the in the crop, in the harvest crop. And I think that could be tweak a little bit working on uh harvest windows. So uh that's what I actually started during harvest, looking at um you know uh weekly harvest to see how the product will store later in cold storage and see how the quality. Will be um optimized and uh and also use that to see also the response uh for the consumer and their feedback. Um that would be the first one. Then you you said three, right? So then the second one will be uh working. Uh we already started working with uh the engineering team here at FRAC. So uh uh Dr. Long had already uh like a block already established, and we are uh planning to combine traditional orchard management with um technology like an uh emerging technology. So, for example, we are gonna follow all season from pruning to the end of the season, and where I will do the regular orchard management, we are coupling with the emerging technology. For example, pruning, I'll do the regular pruning, but we will um um scan the trees to try to uh teach the machine where to cut young trees. So we have the opportunity to follow a new block. So the trees were planted in 2025, so they are still very small, so we could count buds and have uh the vision system counting buds. That's a very important thing for the crop um crop estimate. And we know that growers are very interested in finding tools like mobile devices and things like that that can help them in regulate the crop. Uh, and earlier in the evaluation of the flower bud on the tree, more option you have to reach then the desired crop load before harvest. So, also in the SCRI, we work on some of those vision systems where you can count the flower, but then you you prune accordingly, so you know how many buds you want to leave on the trees and so on. So, so uh Dr. He has already started this, so we decide to combine those things together, and also he has a lot of other technologies like the um the chemical thinning, like the uh don't remember the name, so the modulated thinning, like depending on the amount of flower cluster the vision system perceived. So we are gonna do this together and possibly follow this block for multiple years. We already installed a weather station, we'll have like uh water potential sensors, so we will regulate irrigation based on actually soil moisture, and not just uh so with some, you know, some educated uh information to try to bring this to like a modern orchard with full technology implementation, let's say. Then uh last one, I mean, last one of the three, just to be short, uh well, rostock evaluation. So um again is nothing new at Penn State because uh um Dr. Sean Kumar is our representative for Penn State for the NC 140 group, that's our uh US working group for the North Central, is a group that uh has a long history in evaluating roostocks uh for all crops um apple, pear, peaches, cherry, um, and basically all the states that have relevant production of any given crops, they can be part of the group and sign up for those multi-state projects where each state receives a protocol and is requested to follow the protocol all in the same way. In this manner, the output will be comparable across all the states. So we actually have two projects already ongoing, one um in Rock Spring, uh Gala, uh planted in 2019 on different roostoks that Sean is following. And here I inherited like a uh crest haven uh peach block with uh eight different root stocks that Professor Schupp planted in 2017 and followed until actually this year. So we are gonna have one more year of results, but um both Sean and I went to Vermont this uh last fall and met with the whole group. We are gonna plant a new trial for the future, so we are very excited. I'm actually joining a small group of uh pitch enthusiastic uh young um researcher and extensionists. We are gonna uh plan like a training system by Rustock, new trial that will be planted in Georgia, Texas, Utah, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and so on. So we are working on that right now, and it's very uh exciting because we haven't done um new trial in quite a while. So it's time now to set something in the ground to for our growers to see potential increase in density for peaches and new training system. So those are the main three things.
SPEAKER_02:Uh nice, that's awesome. I uh I just gave a talk yesterday for the New Jersey Vegetable Convention, and I I know they're chomping at the bit for peach information. Not that they're not doing really good work over at Ruckers, but more peach work will very readily be welcomed by the peach growers, I think. So I think they'd be really excited to hear that uh there's there's more peach work being done.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, I'm excited to to go back to to work on peaches because I was doing uh in Italy, but then you know Washington was not a crop of you know uh importance because it's not very uh much grown over there. So now uh here is is huge. So I'm very happy to try to you know do something new and move a little bit forward uh in terms of research and demonstration for the growers.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I can like hear the peach growers now like cheering and throwing their hats in the air. So that's that's really good to hear. Okay. So cool. That's really awesome. And and I know three topics of like, hey, pick your top three is like picking your three favorite children. So that's not really a fair question to ask, but like otherwise, I this would be like I'm sure this would be like a four-hour podcast.
SPEAKER_00:So I can uh you had hosted some pear quality and apple quality trial. Well, uh there was uh I tastings, I should say, not trials, tastings. Uh and so uh I guess Don and I were talking earlier also via email as far as your plans for doing that. You had alluded to the harvest wind, like trying to nail down the harvest window for Evercrisp. And I remember participating in the Apple tasting, and I remember our Evercrisp was there three times, but it was three different uh harvest windows. And to me it tasted different. Like it was what I noticed the different. I I don't think it was, I don't know if it was different for other people, but I could tell the difference in taste based on the harvest. But uh, but yeah, so just curious about um future tastings of uh at Freck. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So uh yeah, thank you for the question. So actually that was something I was very curious, and again, it started from my conversation with the growers where they were saying, sure, we have to have Honey Crisp because of the high demand from the consumer. Uh but and I always ask him about Evercrisp and said, Yes, sure, they love Evercrisp, but it doesn't look good, it's not pretty. So then I incorporated three harvest windows of Evercrisp with um uh standards like Honeycrisp, Gala, and Fuji all harvest here a frack, like at the right time and everything. And also three harvest time uh harvest windows of Ruby Rush, that is a new variety is is um is yeah, is relatively new. Uh it has been tested uh in um uh New Jersey, but again, I I don't see much of it around and is very attractive. So I was creating this fine contrast between uh very good but not attractive Evercrisp versus attractive and who knows, probably good Ruby Rush, together with the standard. So, long story short, I can talk more, but I'll be short. So the best result we got as overall judgment was for the last harvest of Evercrisp. That actually for me was the first week of October. That's not really very late for Evercrisp, but it was already moving very fast in terms of maturity indices, so that was the last harvest for me. After that, the starch was already very, very um degraded and everything. So, in fact, that result the best overall liking of everything, but at the same time, the least preferred in terms of appearance, so is exactly what the growers told me. Perfect, except that is sad because it's not attractive. At the same time, Gela, Fuji, and Honeycrist, they rank very low in the overall liking. So that means there is a big option or big space for improvement for other those new emerging varieties, because if we can find a way to fine-tune their like uh growing um protocols and and and guidelines, there are chances that they can be competitive as much as honic is. I don't know, I'm shooting high, but uh yeah, the result was very clear, I mean, statistically significant. So that's why I'm I'm intrigued to keep going with that and uh and actually looking more into uh those new varieties if they are more for long-term storage, like uh uh pick and sell type of in order to, you know, uh all our growers have different uh business type of businesses. So some wants to have a direct um product to sell with a kind of physiological maturity already uh reached in the way the consumer are happy to eat that piece of fruit, other they just prefer long-term long uh term storage, so you have to harvest them at a different uh different criteria for um satisfying the long-term storage, obviously. On the other side, I did the pear also because there was a pear block and I I could not help myself. I had to do something with that. So, yeah, in particular, uh there is this variety, ArrowSweet, that I think you all know, but is a par blight-resistant variety, is across the mother, is Bartlett, so it's very attractive, as also a blush if it's exposed to the sunlight and is particularly uh sweet and crispy. So I also did harvest windows for that. And because I know, and also in Washington, we struggle a lot with the fact that the pear consumption is going very low, and new generation they don't even almost consider the pear anymore. But there is space for improvement, in particular if you select products that uh provide uh excellent eating experience, the consumer will come back and buy that. So that in that case, I did a comparison between Harrow Sweet and again standard varieties for from the store, because I could not have all in the in the orchard, but that was good because you know getting from the store is exactly what you have as experience when you buy the pair. So I got um red anjoub and um regular butter from the store from the shelves, and that was a bad experience. So actually, the arrow suite scored top, the top in overall liking, like 7.9 out of a nine scale, and that was the second harvest time. So my harvest uh windows was beginning of September to third week of September, so the middle week of September provides the best liking, but again, it's also much appreciated for the for the appearance. So I think it's a very is a is a promising pair, and I'm I I couldn't have the feeling yet how much is planted here or how much the growers like it, but you know, I had it here, so I started, and then maybe we can build something from from there. But again, uh the consume the the store boat uh pair provided like a very bad experience. So that's the proof that we need to do something, you know. We cannot put on shelves fruit that are disappointing our consumer, otherwise we cannot push anything further. So um, yeah, those are my true uh consumer panel at Frac. And it was very fun. We used the lunch, no, sorry, the the mid-morning break in the auditorium, and I think it was at least I think it was fun.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'm looking it sounds like uh we will have future tastings um at FREC. So I'm looking forward to that. So that's great.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we will. We try, we'll try probably also with peaches. Ooh, all right. Excellent, excellent.
SPEAKER_02:So just as a as a hypothetical, and you could be like, Don, yeah, you can't ask me that. That's too early to say this. But um, so does that mean that like long term we need to be giving different recommendations for our harvest windows? Is that is that kind of like the end goal for this kind of work?
SPEAKER_01:Is that you know, um more than giving different recommendations, I would say create sensitivity to um to uh maturity indices in the way we could uh um we could give each of our growers the knowledge they need to take those decisions, like because third, second, first week of a m of any given month is not a parameter. We know I mean it's easy, but every year is different, and every you know uh every season uh speed or delay the maturity in a in a different way. So that's what I want to do. I want to characterize those uh harvests with new numeric data that can tell us where we are in any given time. Then those they could be aired next year and say, are we completely off? And then I can say, yes, we can be off of three weeks, because like the example of Evercrisp, I could not leave nor that those Evercrisp nor those Ruby rash hanging any longer. The Ruby Rush actually fell by itself the following week, means that was the very end of the options, right? So I want to provide tools to understand better in a with multiple kind of approaches of how the fruit evolves, the maturity evolves on the trees, and what happened also from harvest into storage. That would be my idea. But yes, we need absolutely to be flexible with the recommendation because when we harvest too late, again, we cannot expect those fruits to have a um storability that's satisfactory more than probably four months. Usually, if you harvest well and you do a regular storage, you can reach obviously more than six months of storage, but again, it needs to be harvest in at the right time.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome. Well, thank you for that because that's I think that's really interesting, especially this past year. We're doing some of the uh maturity update stuff. We saw stuff go uh quote unquote like out of sequence for what we'd normally expect. So it's it's really nice to hear you be interested in in that work and uh be interested in like what those harvest parameters look like. And and I know for me that uh would make my job a lot nicer because uh it's really hard to be like, yeah, it's it's delicious harvest. It's like, no, dude, that's they gotta go. There's those need to be off the trees like two days ago.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and that create creates also panic, right? So while if you start following and see things evolving, maybe you have less like emergency or panic situation. That's how I also see that. And for sure, all the data collected uh before me for about the maturity, those are very important because they represent the historical evolution, right? All those need to be kept and compared, I think, year after year. So, how is changing? Are we seeing the same things? Are we completely off? How much off we are, and why? When was bloom? How many days after full bloom? And all those considerations. I think we can get a lot of information out of those uh um experiment or yes, test.
SPEAKER_00:One more question. No, no, no. It's it's more of like a it's not a research question, it's just a personal question. So you've been here, you're you're starting on month six. So any any thoughts for posterity about your first five full months out east? Because very different, a little more humidity. I mean, we've got a monster snowstorm breathing down our neck right now. Uh and so just curious as far as your thoughts so far of being out east.
SPEAKER_01:So I arrived in July and was super humid, and I had to adjust for me was a couple of days, so I was struggling a little bit, but because I was used to Washington, right? But then is a is very, very, very similar to Bologna, my hometown, Italy. So it's just like I need to recalibrate back to humidity level. I can do that. So, but then August was amazing. I don't know if you remember, I mean it was pleasant and very good. It's unusual.
SPEAKER_00:August was an unusual, that's not typical, so don't get used to it.
SPEAKER_01:Somebody said that I brought I brought the good weather, but I can promise much longer. Um if I'm not new anymore, then the weather. No, uh, storm speaking. Yeah, I'm ready for the snow uh storm, but again, we will be in Harshee. Hopefully, everything goes well uh despite the snow. Again, I'm not very used to so much snow. We had some in Winachi, but the number I'm reading in the forecast for this weekend are like out of my scale, so I love to readjust. But so far, so good. Here at the center, everybody's super nice. I felt right away very welcome, and I'm building. My group, I have uh like an assistant that's coming um you know part-time. And I like yesterday I found my students for fall 2026, so I'm very happy. I commit to to have a master's student that will come and work, and now I'm searching my um like a senior technician for for the program. So things are going. Uh, I mean, I feel always behind, but I guess this is for maybe a normal feeling, but that's things are going well, yes.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I think you've been an amazing addition to Freck, and I know I can speak probably for everyone here that we're thrilled to have you here. So uh I it's been a lot of she's been very a go-getter, and I should say things are getting cleaned that have been long overdue that needed to be cleaned that we've been really excited about. Thank you. Yes, thank you, Sarah, for that motivation of long overdue decluttering of certain common spaces.
SPEAKER_01:I'm here for that. I have something to go in in the in the sleeve.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I uh I heard that things were getting cleaned at Freck and my jaw dropped. And when I finally picked my jaw back up off the floor, I went, good, that's great to hear.
SPEAKER_00:It was very cathartic, I will say. It was very cathartic to be able to purge a lot of stuff.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, long overdue, but but it's another another news is that we are gonna have the upgrade of our fruiting packing line. So yes, that's right. And uh, thanks to my um startup and a contribution from FREC, we are gonna upgrade our um vintage uh uh uh sorting line to industry standard. So we will be able to sort for color and size, and it will be available for all the the programs at FREC and Sean, and and we will all use this new system and learn together, I hope, as soon as possible. Probably March we will get the installation done.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm looking forward to that just because uh I've got Russet, I we always rate Russet and we look at back spot on Peach. And so having uh a really nice vision tool, I should say, sorting tool, be really nice to be able to capture that information. So I'm looking forward to that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, the good part is that we can also get some help from some of the growers that have the same system, for example, to kind of mimic as close as possible to the sorting they will do with their own apple to have a better idea of a real pacao, to eventually even associate uh potential cost and make a little bit of economics out of it, but also we have the power to maybe train the optical device for for like like Kerry was saying, some specific things based on color nuances, right? Something particularly black. We can teach the machine everything that's like that. Remember, and we are gonna quantify as a percentage of the area of the fruit. That's very, very, very, very important for us for the future. But we'll have to work a lot.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it'll be a process, it won't happen overnight, but it'll be uh a great new addition, or I should say an upgraded edition for um for fracking the tree fruit folks. So I agree. Yes.
SPEAKER_02:That's awesome, that's cool to hear. And thank you today for coming on here today. Super excited to have you on. It's been overdue, but uh glad we could get the time to get you on here and chat with you for a bit. And hopefully this wasn't too painful for you, and you'll join us again for for more more uh episodes. And um, yeah, thank thanks again for jumping on here.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks for your time. Yeah, thank you both, and uh I hope to see all the growers at the Hershey next week.
SPEAKER_00:And that is an that is a good segue as far as our meeting announcements. So, Don, do you want to? I mean, you are one of the co-organizers for Hershey, so I'll let you talk about I'll let you, I'll let you sort of uh give the Hershey spiel.
SPEAKER_02:Sure. Uh so obviously uh next week starting on the 26th. Nope, that's not where it is. That's not my calendar. Uh Tuesday the 27th. Yeah, the 27th. Uh there's some pre-conference stuff on the 26th. Uh, but starting on the 27th, uh we will uh Hershey begins. The Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention begins in Hershey. Um, bright and early. Uh that runs the 27th, 28th, 29th. Uh if you are that is happening. Come snow or meteor strike, I guess. Uh so just take your time getting there. It's not gonna go anywhere, I promise. Uh, it will be there when you get there. Um, but yes, please uh if you have not already registered, there will be registration available. Uh I would highly recommend in the future doing a little bit of pre-registration if you can. I think it saves you some money versus at the door. Um hotel rooms are likely pretty full booked because the lodge usually gets pretty full up. Um that said, I'm quite pleased with the program overall. I did hear a little bit from Rutgers yesterday, uh, that it's a little Penn State heavy this year, uh, but I'm gonna take that with a grain of salt from the Rutgers folks. Uh so uh next year I promise I'll get more of the Ruckers folks on. Um that said, I I think the program's really, really good. Uh we have Dr. Randy Baudry coming in from Michigan State um as one of our speakers, and Randy's really cool to work with. He's a super knowledgeable guy. Um, I've really liked working with him in the past, so I'm really, really excited for him to talk. If you do see him in the hallway, say hello. He's super friendly. And um that's Hershey for the most part. Uh, we have a Young Grower Alliance luncheon on Tuesday where Dr. Sarah will once again be our speaker. So she can do a little meet and greet in person. Uh that's at noon in one of the cocoa suites. Usually I think cocoa suite one and two. Uh I'm sure there's something else that I'm forgetting for Hershey, but uh the I I don't know, my brain's turned into oatmeal. So that's all I got.
SPEAKER_00:Folks know the drill. So uh so and then oh, so we have uh a week in between Hershey and the winter fruit schools. So the winter fruit schools start on Tuesday, February 10th, and that will be in the Appalachian fruit region, and that's gonna be occurring at Ridgetop Orchards in Fishertown, Pennsylvania this year. Then on February 11th, we're gonna be in Erie County in uh northeast Pennsylvania, which is in the northwestern corner of the state. Make it make sense, I understand. So that's gonna be at Birch Farms Country Market and Winery. And Thursday, February 12th, this is our western region, so the Pittsburgh area, and we're gonna be at Sorgholes Orchards again, and that's in Wexford. On Monday, February 16th, that is the Adams and Franklin County joint meeting. Uh, and also concurrently happening is the Spanish session, uh, which will be occurring in the library at that meeting as well. On Tuesday, February 17th, this is the Lancaster and York meeting, which will be held at the Lancaster Farm and Home Center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Uh Wednesday, February 18th, this is the Central Susquehanna Northeast region, which will be at the Union County Government Center in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. And then finally, last but not least, it is the Southeast region on Thursday, February 19th. That's at the Burks County Ag Center in uh Leesport, uh, Pennsylvania. So as of right now, I believe in C Vent we have um three of these meetings that are showing up. Uh two meetings are haven't shown up yet, um, aren't online. Uh and the Adams Franklin County meetings that is being um facilitated through the Adams County Grower Association. So that you will not see that on uh C Vent. So that's done independently. So uh we've got uh you know lots of good meetings coming up over the next month. So hope to see everyone there. Uh and uh yeah, and be careful this weekend with the crazy winter weather. And yes, just to reiterate what John said, Hershey is still going on. Um might be a little slower getting there, but uh the system should be all moved out by Monday afternoon.
SPEAKER_02:So awesome. So Sarah, thank you again for jumping on. Thanks, Sarah. Really appreciate it. Thank you for having your time.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks.
SPEAKER_02:Um, so say goodbye, everybody.
SPEAKER_00:See you later. See you later.