April 2022 - 1

FruitScout pinpoints
cropping targets
MagGrowTec aids spray
coverage, input costs
High-Tech Tools
2022
8
20
32
Pollinator practices,
labor awareness game
unveiled
April 2022 | Volume 61 |
Issue 4
EMPIRE STATE
POWERHOUSE
New York Apple Sales' innovation drives
growing, marketing
New York Apple Sales' owner Kaari Stannard, left, and Tenley Fitzgerald, walk through an orchard. Photos: New York Apple Sales
By Doug Ohlemeier
Assistant Editor
Effectively working with growers,
embracing technology and marketing its
products in new ways are key elements
to the success of New York Apple Sales
(NYAS). The emergence of newer
generations should also influence the
future of the organization, which does
business as Yes! Apples.
For more than 100 years, the
Glenmont, New York, grower, packer,
shipper and sales and marketing agent
has supplied Empire State apples from
one of the country's most picturesque
growing regions in the Lake Ontario and
Champlain and Hudson valley regions.
Relying heavily on the wisdom of
its growers, NYAS does a lot of work
marketing the taste and benefits of
northeast apples. The Yes! Apples brand
markets 20-plus varieties.
More than 50 growers supply nine
packing facilities from orchards
throughout New York. Primary
production and packing, however, is in
western New York, with some orchards
near the shores of Lake Ontario. In that
region, more than 35 growers supply
apples to the packing plants. Other
production originates from the northeast's
Champlain and Hudson valleys, plus
NYAS' own acreage.
The company's business model
involves its president and owner, Kaari
Stannard, a
sales team, a
marketing staffer,
plus production,
logistics and
accounting
personnel who
drive the company.
" Our team here is made up of people
who are passionate about what they
do and dedicated to the industry, " said
Stannard. " Many are long-standing
employees. We all love what we do and
that we get to bring something healthy
and delicious to our customers. "
An integrated company from growing
to marketing, NYAS distributes apples
throughout the East Coast, into the
Midwest and Texas with large sales in the
Northeast and Florida.
" The advantage of our business model
is we have the size and scale that can
compete with Washington state, " said
Matt Wells, vice president of operations
and food safety. " If our nine facilities
tried to market their fruit independently,
it would be a tough struggle to get into
large retailers. But for us, because we
are a collective of packing facilities,
we have the volume and size and can
engage with the larger stores. It's why
we're successful. We are a bunch of little
companies that can operate at a larger
scale. "
Apple century legacy
NYAS begin in 1919 in Menands, New
York, when Max Michaelson bought
apples from area orchards and sold them
to Albany, New York, area markets
through Max Michaelson Produce. In
1960, Herman Michaelson, Max's son,
bought Hudson Storage & Ice Corp.,
See INNOVATION, page 6

April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2022