Jack Brown Produce Inc., located in Sparta, MI, “is taking a look at the next five-year window,” said John Schaefer, Jr., president of the firm. “We will have a lot of new acreage and a lot of upgraded acreage. The growers looked at their older blocks and decided to switch to newer, better strains. And they looked at what their customers wanted to buy.”

That demand was for more flavorful varieties, such as Gala and Honeycrisp. These are “now in the ground” in much greater numbers, Schaefer said.

When The Produce News called in John Schaefer, Jr., president of Jack Brown Produce, Inc., in mid-May, the firm was nearing completion of packing its 2014 McIntosh apple storage crop. “I think in the next five years there is a potential for this organization to hit an additional 25 percent” in production, he added. This will mostly come from Gala and Honeycrisp but Jonagold is also coming on “as a pretty apple with outstanding eating qualities.”

Asked what packaging options are being considered by Jack Brown, Schaefer noted, “we are exploring different types of packaging. These are pouch, mesh, poly and RPCs. In any given month we have 750 different SKUs.” He added that “flexibility for our customers” is a critical part of Jack Brown’s success.

As to this growing season, Schaefer said, “We are very pleased that we came through the winter from hell.” He joked that the spring was so long that the harvest of the earliest-maturing variety, Paula Red, would begin in November. “But Mother Nature averaged out and we’re on track.” Or close to it. “We’re a week behind, on average,” Schaefer said. Our quality is excellent. Our volume is very nice. It’s similar to last year. The Red Delicious may be heavier. The Golden Delicious may be lighter. The weather is excellent and so far, nothing significant has affected the crop,” he said Aug. 4.

Typically, Paula Red harvest begins for Jack Brown’s growers about Aug. 15. This year, “it’ll probably be light in the week of the 18th and the week of Aug. 25 we’ll have volume.”

Ginger Gold apples also start in late August. Then after Sept. 1, early types of Golden Delicious, such as the Golden Supreme, will begin.

McIntosh harvest will then be underway, with Honeycrisp starting around Sept. 15-20.

“We will be big in Honeycrisp,” he said. “It looks like a really, really pretty crop.”

When Mother Nature’s multiple freeze virtually wiped out Michigan’s apple crop in the spring of 2013, Jack Brown Produce was among several Michigan packers that took advantage of idle facilities to upgrade them for better seasons. For Jack Brown, multiple upgrades prior to the 2013 harvest “ran very, very well for us last year. We were very pleased with our quality and our technical changes. The firm has and will continue to increase its volume, “which we need to do as a company and state industry.”