Developing Northern California's first ranch marketing program

Abstract

Smith-Lever Act of 1914: An Act to pr colleges in the several States receiving and sixty-two, and of acts suppleme Outlook 100 ways UC Cooperative Extension changed California Apple Hill has the largest concentration of apple growers in all of California. Above, Boa Vista Orchard in Placerville. wines. Above, Boeger Winery vineyard in Placerville. 16 CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE • VOLUME 68 , NUMBERS 1–2 Will Suckow Will Suckow C alifornia’s El Dorado County was once part of a thriving commercial pear-growing region. In 1958, its growers produced more than 52,000 tons of pears on 3,400 acres. The local Placerville Fruit Growers Association, established in 1915, was a busy pear-packing cooperative. But in the late 1950s, pear decline disease invaded California and nearly destroyed nearly all of El Dorado’s premium Bartlett pear orchards. By 1964, the county’s production had dropped to 8,435 tons. Farmers were devastated, and their families at risk. The late Dick Bethell was UC Cooperative Extension pomology advisor in El Dorado, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz and Sonoma More than 750,000 visitors tour the Apple Hill area each year to counties but he lived in Placerville. buy fresh apples and apple products. He couldn’t stand watching his community suffer, and he got to Apples aren’t the only crop El Dorado visitors now work restructuring El Dorado’s enjoy, and UCCE’s Bethell had a hand in that as well. entire growing industry. Bethell en- Once a thriving wine country, with early settlers sup- couraged local growers to diversify plying Gold Rush communities with spirits and fruit, into stone fruits, wine grapes, ber- El Dorado’s wine grape industry suffered during ries and, most of all, apples. Prohibition and from grape phylloxera. In the 1960s, after a visit to Oak In 1965, Bethell oversaw the planting of several Glen, a successful apple-growing wine grape test plots at various foothill elevations in region in Southern California’s the county. The wines produced from these plots were San Bernardino Mountains, Bethell evaluated by the UC Davis Department of Enology, and his partners envisioned a which confirmed the suitability of the region for qual- similar agritourism industry in El ity wine grapes. The re-emerging industry grew from Dorado County, based on apple 6 acres to more than 2,000 acres of vines and 50 winer- production. Bethell, grower Gene ies during Bethell’s tenure. The county was officially Bolster, agricultural commissioner designated as an American Viticultural Area in 1983, Ed Delfino, and retired army officer and today, thanks to the early encouragement by Dick Bob Tuck formed the Apple Hill Growers Association, Bethell, El Dorado produces some of California’s top based on the Oak Glen model and its agritourism by- wines and most beloved apples. laws. The following summer, in 1964, they held their — Marissa Palin Stein first Apple Hill picnic for the news media, and not long afterwards they recruited visitors at the California State Fair. Today, the Apple Hill Growers Association has grown from 16 farmer members to over 55, and Apple Hill has the largest concen- tration of apple growers in all of California. Their efforts have paid off: Apple Hill has become a very popu- lar tourist destination in Northern California. More than 750,000 visi- tors tour the area each year to visit you-pick farms; buy fresh apples and apple products; chop Christmas trees; eat lunch; and stop at a local brewery, Since the planting of wine grape test plots in 1965, the wine industry in El Dorado spa and wineries. County has grown to more than 50 wineries and produces some of California’s top Jack Kelly Clark Developing Northern California’s first ranch marketing program