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Agritourism takes a short vacation"People don't realize there are no apples," Binder said. "They forget about the cold weather in April." By Doug Rich Agritourism is taking a short vacation this summer in Missouri. A spring freeze took a big bite out of apple and berry production across the state. Sandy Binder, who manages an apple orchard near Mexico, Mo., and Marv Meyer, who grows blueberries on his farm near Dixon, Mo., had some unexpected free time on their hands this summer. In June, Sandy Binder began getting telephone calls about u-pickapples. "People don't realize there are no apples," Binder said. "They forget about the cold weather in April." Binder has nearly 800 dwarf apple trees in her orchard and there are very few apples on them. Three trees along her driveway are loaded with apples, but there are none in her orchard. "Every third tree in the orchard will have a couple of apples on it, but that is about it," Binder said. "Just about everything was bloomed out when the freeze hit. Even the late apples were in full bloom. I don't think there is even a Granny Smith out there and that is the last apple of the season." Normally, Binder's u-pick season begins at the end of July and runs through the middle of October. They have even picked apples up through early November, on occasion. The earliest varieties are William's Pride and Gala. "William's Pride is an all purpose apple that you will not find at the grocery store because they need to be refrigerated," Binder said. Dwarf Trees Binder has 13 varieties of apples in the orchard--all dwarf trees. She said the smaller trees make it easier for her customers to pick their own apples and easier for her to care for the trees during the year. Binder started her u-pick business in 1993 when she planted 300 trees. By 1995 she and her husband, David, were advertising apples for sale. In addition to the apples, Binder makes apple butter, apple rollups, and apple chips that she sells at the farm and at area farmers' markets. During the season people can come out during the week, but most people visit Binder's apple orchard on the weekend. Except on Saturday mornings. There is no u-pick Saturday morning, so Binder and her husband can travel to farmers' markets in Columbia and Mexico. "The yard will just be full sometimes with people all over the place," Binder said. Berries also get hit by the weather The weather also took a toll on Meyer's Berry Farm. Marv Meyer started the farm in 1986 but he froze out this year and will not open for berry picking this season. "The phone has been ringing off the hook," Meyer said. "But we really took a hit from the cold weather." His farm near Dixon, Mo., experienced 17 degree weather for three days. This followed unusually warm weather in March which caused the berries to mature earlier than normal. It was a lethal combination that left Meyer with only a handful of late blooming berries. The blueberries are very popular and really sell themselves. Meyer said he is usually picked out in three to four weeks. During the berry picking season, which can run from the middle of June through July, Meyer is open six days a week from 8 a.m. to noon. "People like to come in when it is a little cooler," Meyer said He hires people to pick berries, so he sells them u-pick or pre-picked. As luck would have it this is the second year in a row that Meyer has suffered a crop loss. Last year his pumpkin crop was burned up by the drought and he had to buy pumpkins from producers in other areas to meet his local demand. "They just cooked in the field last year," Meyer said. "We had no rain for two months." Extra pumpkins Most years Meyer buys extra pumpkins to have enough for everyone that comes to his farm. Last year no one locally had any pumpkins but he did find a grower from Columbia who had extra. "It really cut into our profits, but we like to have something for everyone," Meyer said. Business really picks up at the Meyer Berry Farm in the fall when school kids come in by the bus load to get their pumpkins. Meyer estimated that they will have 2,200 school kids visit his farm every fall. He made appointments with schools this summer for their field trips this fall. "We try to make it educational and have the kids learn something about the farm and agriculture," Meyer said. On the weekend, his farm is open to families and groups looking for a place to have hay rides and cookouts. Meyer gets a lot of visitors from the nearby military base at Fort Leonard Wood, where he worked for many years as the conservation specialist at the base. Besides making a trip to his farm educational, Meyer tries to make it as much fun as possible for everyone. He has a corn maze, a petting zoo with goats, rabbits, and chickens, a big straw pile that the kids love to jump, hay rack rides, and a place for groups to have a bonfire. His nephews built a catapult for throwing pumpkins. Meyer said the first and second weeks of October are the busiest of the season. So many people were showing up that he had to start charging admission and hiring extra help to handle to all the people. In addition to the 2,200 school kids that come out every fall, he will have another 8,000 people visit the farm over the fall season. Diversification Sandy Binder had a fall back position, also. She raises alpacas and said this year the market for alpacas has been very good and will make up for not having any apples. Binder started raising alpacas in 1998 and treats them just like another business venture. She sells breeding stocks and harvests the fiber. She sends the fiber to a mill where it is made into yarn. She does some spinning and weaving herself and sends her yarn to a place in New England where it is made into blankets, hats, socks, and gloves. Normally she would be selling these to people that come out to pick apples. The Missouri Department of Agriculture said the freeze did an estimated $400 million worth of damage to agriculture in general across the state. Damage to fruit production accounted for $21.8 million of that total, according to Patrick Byers, of the Department of Fruit Science at Missouri State University. Blackberry, blueberry, peach and apple production was devastated this year. However, like any other farmers, big or small, Binder and Meyer are optimistic about next year regardless of the freeze damage they suffered this year. Both said that no harvest of apples and berries this year probably means a bumper crop next year. Editor's note: For more information on Binder's Apple Orchard, Meyer's Berry Farms or other Agritourism destinations in Missouri visit www.agrimissouri.com. Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304. 9/24/07
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