The Michigan apple industry is expected to harvest a record 31 million bushels this season, thanks to ample rain over the summer and a 'major shift' in growers' production techniques. 

The crop forecast, equivalent to 1.3 billion pounds (590,000 metric tons), was announced at the recent USApple Outlook meeting in Chicago and would mark a 29% year-on-year increase.

Amy Irish-Brown, a tree fruit extension educator with Michigan State University, said the impressive production estimate was largely down to a growing industry focus on high-density plantings.

"I think the biggest change we’ve seen has been a move toward high-density plantings - so plantings of more than 1,000 trees per acre. That’s been a major shift. It's amazing just how much has changed in five years," she told www.freshfruitportal.com.

"Then along with that comes new equipment, as you need smaller equipment to get down the rows, and other operational efficiencies."

She said with conventional growing methods, which would typically involve 500-800 trees per acre, it would take around 8-10 years for the trees to reach full production.

However, with high-density planting, which uses dwarf trees, production builds up far more quickly.

"The nice thing about these high density methods is that you plant them then next year you’re at 40% of the crop," she said.

"So you get a quicker return on your investment. Although obviously it is a higher investment as you need to plant more trees."

Irish-Brown also mentioned the industry was being encouraged to prepare for future technological advances in harvesting robotics by using the 'fruiting wall system'.

"We're currently seeing some major shifts with mechanization, and I think within the next 20 years there will be some big changes," she said.

"An apple tree is a three-dimensional system, and so it's hard to harvest it differently, but technology is moving fast.

"We’re trying to encourage our Michigan growers to plant for the future, and you do this with close plantings or basically a fruiting wall, so you kind of take the 3D out it and make it more 2D. That makes it more efficient when these things come in place, which is going to be sooner rather than later."

Another reason for the huge crop forecast is the favorable weather.

While at certain moments over the last year there had been some industry concerns due to lack of rain and high winter temperatures, Irish-Brown said everything worked out fine in the end.

"We had a fairly mild winter, and temperatures didn't really drop until the end of January or early February, and we also had a very long extended bloom period, so we weren't sure if the fruit was going to set well," she said.

"But then by the end of June it was a very nice crop. We ran into a little bit of dry weather, but we've now had some nice rains.

"So our first numbers were around 26 or 27 million bushels, but ample rainfall has increased our fruit sizing nicely. It's really pushed up that production."

There are more than 11.3 million apple trees in commercial production, covering 35,500 acres on 825 family-run farms in Michigan, according to the Michigan Apple Committee.

The fruit is typically shipped from mid-August all the way through the following June, and is sold is 27 U.S. states and 18 countries worldwide.

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