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Hendersonville, NC, May 2018— Burntshirt Vineyards was awarded two Gold Medals and two Silver medals out of 2,159 entries. Gold Medals were awarded for their 2016 Gruner Veltliner, Altitude 3400 Red Blend and Silver Medals for their 2015 “O Cellars Reserve” Meritage and Cabernet Franc.

The Gruner Veltliner was the stand out wine for Burntshirt Vineyards being the only vineyard to earn a Gold Medal over other proven Gruner Veltliner producing regions from the Mid Atlantic to the the Northwest. Utilizing their Burntshirt Mountain vineyard at 3400 feet elevation allows them to craft an exquisite wine from the vitis vinifera Gruner Veltliner.

The Oates family was extremely honored to achieve this award along with the other medals proving that strict attention to terroir and vineyard placement can yield extraordinary wines in, at this moment in time, the little known mountainous region of North Carolina.

Burntshirt Vineyards is an award winning winery utilizing 100% estate grown grapes from their two vineyards which are among the highest elevations on the East Coast. Featuring two tasting locations and a bistro in Chimney Rock, NC and our Hendersonville, NC location with event spaces for rent and food truck. There’s something for everyone.

By Derek Lacey
Times-News Staff Writer

The 2018 Winter Apple School packed the conference room at Blue Ridge Community College Wednesday. Experts detailed the industry as a whole while delving into particulars like labor, pests, insecticides, management strategies and more.

Sponsored by the Henderson County Extension and Blue Ridge Apple Growers, this year’s Winter Apple School also broadened its scope. New additions included workshops on small fruits, focusing on topics like blackberry and strawberry diseases, u-pick production and herbicides for weed management.

One speaker Wednesday was Mark W. Seetin, director of regulatory and industry affairs with the U.S. Apple Association, who gave an overview of the apple industry. Last year could be the most productive year for domestic apple growers to date, he said, citing the USAA estimate that the country’s apple growers produced 284.2 million 42-pound bushels of apples in 2017, a 6-percent increase over 2016.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s estimate, he said, is 248.7 million bushels, which would mark the 11th largest crop. After looking at USAA December inventory, however, the organization estimated that the actual yield would be 284.2 million bushels, a 6-percent increase over 2016.

Three of the top five years on record have occured in the last four years, Seetin noted. Top-level production is occurring on 31-percent fewer acres since the 1990s. The Appalachian region specifically, he showed, was up 18 percent in 2017 over 2016, and production last year was 6 percent above the area’s five-year average.

It’s good news for values in 2017, too, with farm gate, or wholesale, sales up 3 percent over 2016, totaling a new record of $3.46 billion, he showed.

Adjusting for inflation, Seetin took the values of the 1994 crop and compared it to 2016. He found that growers received 33 percent more money for their 2016 crop than in 1994 for the almost identically sized crops.

The interesting thing, he said, is that the big increase in value is on the fresh apples side instead of procesed apples, which brought essentially the same return.

For the 2016 crop, Seetin said, 67 percent of apples were sold fresh and 33 percent were processed, marking a trend of larger shares of fresh fruit compared to processed. In 1996, sales were split nearly evenly.

Export prospects look good for the next few years, too, he added, with Mexico leading the list of countries that import American apples, taking 30 percent of the share of U.S. apple exports, followed by Canada with 16 percent.

Considering recent advances made by the apple industry, he credited aspects like growers being able to effectively market larger crops, increased productivity, better post-harvest management, new varieties aimed at customer preference, innovative marketing programs and export prospects.

“This is a very good time to be in the apple industry,” Seetin said, and there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic.

Farm labor

Another topic covered Wednesday was one that Mark Williams, executive director of Agribusiness Henderson County, said was the top concern for county farmers: labor.

Dan Bremer, of Lake Park, Ga.-based AgWorks, a firm that helps employers find farm labor, presented “Farm Labor: 2018 and Beyond” Wednesday afternoon. He addressed challenges and opportunities to address the shortage of available agricultural workers.

Local growers — not just apple growers, but all specialty crops including tomatoes and greenhouse production — struggle with finding enough labor in Henderson County, Williams said. Even if all of the 3.5 percent of the population making up the county’s current unemployment rate were to fill those farm labor jobs, it wouldn’t be enough.

“Ag employers are being hit on multiple fronts related to labor,” Bremer said, listing regulatory changes, government rulings and ineptness and legal challenges.

At the same time, he added, the available labor supply force is shrinking drastically and foreign competition is rapidly increasing. The working population is aging and shrinking, he said, giving examples of attrition due to disability, young people choosing college or other higher education as opposed to farm work, and opioid or drug dependency and welfare.

Bremer said half of all tomatoes consumed in the U.S. are grown by a foreign country. If it weren’t for the labor supply, the U.S. could grow 27 percent more tomatoes.

More people are also going back to Mexico than are coming to the United States — a net reverse migration, he added, continuing a trend that started around 2005.

One option available to growers is the H-2A visa program that allows growers or similar employers to hire seasonal foreign agricultural laborers, requiring the employer to provide meals, housing, transportation and more.

Nationally, growth in the H-2A program is exponential, Bremer said, citing a 20-percent growth in the program from 2016 to 2017. He expects it to grow by another 20 percent, if not more, depending on what Congress does.

If the e-Verify program is expanded, he said, “you are SOL: Sure Out of Luck. Where will your workers come from? You might have to go to H-2A.”

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HENDERSON COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — A new study showed North Carolina wine and grapes keep getting more popular.

According to the state's Wine and Grape Growers Council, that industry had a $2 billion economic impact in 2016 — about a 15 percent increase from the last study in 2014.

"We really see that North Carolina is growing some great wines and some great fruit,” Alan Ward, owner of Saint Paul Mountain Vineyards, said.

"Each year, we've averaged probably around 20 to 25 percent growth," Ward said.

It is a growing trend across the state, including in the mountains.

"We've been very fortunate in the growth here in Henderson County," Ward said.

There is also a multimillion-dollar impact on tourism.

"We see this as sustainable. We also see it as a multiplier effect of probably about 6 or 7, meaning, when people come here, the majority of them are from the Upstate, Charlotte and from the region, not just local folks. We have a lot of local folks,” Ward said. “But, probably 65 percent are from outside this area. So, those folks come up, spend the night, stay at restaurants, stay at hotels and spend money here in this area."

The state's Wine and Grape Growers Council said more wine is being produced and sold with many vineyard owners relying on tasting rooms.

"What we do here is we really take the client or the customers seriously. We want them to enjoy their experience. We want them to learn about wine — not be afraid of wine," Ward said.

Ward added that he is certainly not afraid for the future of this industry.

"Western North Carolina has more geological diversity than anywhere in the world and the second oldest mountain range in the world. So, we're able to really compete well with other people in the nation and around the world," Ward said.

Winners have been announced in the N.C. State Fair Wine Competition. View results here. 

 

Agribusiness Henderson County Executive Director Mark Williams has been named to the state Food Processing Innovation Center Advisory Committee, focusing on employment, investment and value in food processing.

The appointment, he says, may be a great opportunity to assist Henderson County’s growing food production market.

Food processing and creating value-added products is a way to increase profit margins for farmers, including grading and repackaging vegetables, manufacturing wine and cider and more, a field where Henderson County continues to grow.

The Food Processing Innovation Center, planned for the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis, will be a place for research and development in packaging methods, equipment and more.

Representing food manufacturers, and perhaps the only Western North Carolina resident on the 14-member council, Williams will serve through Dec. 31, 2020.

Also on the committee are state Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler, state Secretary of Commerce Tony Copeland and Dean of N.C. State’s College of Agriculture and Life Science Rich Linton.

The committee is an initiative born from the N.C. Food Manufacturing Taskforce that sought to find strategies for economic development in food and agricultural products.

The committee hasn’t met yet, Williams said, but he will be providing advisement on where the focus needs to be and ways it can best benefit the state as a whole in terms of agricultural production, incorporating into that value-added products and food processing.

Through the efforts of AgHC, the county has already enjoyed many opportunities for growth, Williams wrote in an email Tuesday. In the last six years, the county has added two wineries and three cideries, seen significant expansion of two major produce companies, added storage facilities and markets for apples, berries and produce, welcomed the formation of an international greenhouse operation and a new dairy-creamery, and seen plenty of other farm and ag-related growth.

It’s estimated that with that recent growth, agribusiness now contributes about $650 million to the local economy and employs more than 7,000, he wrote, adding that “AgHC’s hope is the new Food Processing Innovation Center will provide beneficial research to our existing operations and assist in further growth and development for the industry.”

There’s a lot happening in the western part of the state, he added. Henderson County is a hub for food production in the region, a county that has grown the industry more and more through the years.

The legislature appropriated $700,000 in recurring funds through fiscal year 2018-19, and a non-recurring $4.4 million in this year’s budget, to equip the Food Processing Innovation Center. Williams said the facility provides an opportunity for local manufacturers like Bold Rock Hard Cider or Burntshirt and St. Paul wineries to utilize those facilities if they’re having difficulty in production, processing or safety.

Legislation establishing the committee also lays out goals for its members, which Williams said are particularly exciting for AgHC. One in particular the group finds important, and should benefit local farmers and agribusinesses, is the goal of “Increasing the use of North Carolina-produced ingredients, agricultural products, equipment and other products of food manufacturers located in this state.” This has been a key AgHC goal for Henderson County since the organization began operations in 2006.

“We will now have the opportunity to advance it with the support of a statewide initiative and benefit of new research facilities,” he wrote. “Having a voice on the Advisory Committee is definitely a blessing.”

Value-added products increase a farmer’s profit margins, like making cider with apples. A bushel of apples may only be worth so much, but converting that bushel to a graded and packaged product or cider are ways to increase the value of that product, Williams said.

One area where the county has seen value-added development is in the beverage industry, which is also one of the most rapidly growing in the state, Williams said. With wineries and cideries growing in Henderson County and breweries and distilleries growing across the state, there is a tremendous benefit to the agricultural community because of the products going in, he said — whether it’s apples, grapes, berries or even wheat and grain, even the by-products like spent grain or apple pomace are used.