Apples, Apples, Everywhere

Last year at this time the apple growers of Ontario were wringing their hands as the crop looked very sparse. The spring weather combined with a lack of bees caused the the industry to look forward to. a reduction of about 80 per cent. In my case the Northern Spy tree flowered and we harvested not a single apple.

Our Spartan had a beautiful blooming but only eight apples were harvested. This year is so different with Mother Nature spreading out her wings over the fruit trees and we can look forward to a abundant crop in all areas

There is great concern shown by all people in the agriculture field about the health of our bee industry. There are kills of whole colonies and it is the belief that the coating on the modified seeds of the corn creates a problem for the bees resulting in death of many bees.

Bees being more scarce has caused another problem if you can believe it. Bee keepers are experiencing the theft of some of their colonies and one beekeeper near us lost a colony of 32,000 bees just a week or so ago.

Apple prices spiked last year to record heights of over $2 per pound and higher in some areas. This caused our retail people to depend on imported apples and I have seen apples on the shelf from the USA, South Africa, New Zealand and many other countries. Lets hope that the predictions for this year are correct so we can keep that old saying going...an apple a day keeps the doctor away.