Stanley Orchard Sales Inc., in Modena, NY, is swapping out some of its old apple trees and replanting high-density Honeycrisp and Gala varieties to meet the growing demand.

“We respond to the market, and these are highly popular apples today,” said Sales Manager Tony Maresca. “Consumers love the Honeycrisp, and it brings a premium. We run out of them by holiday time. It’s a good problem to have.”

Anthony Maresca, sales manager, Jordan Cohn, sales and marketing representative and Ron Cohn, president and chief executive officer of Stanley Orchards.Stanley Orchards has a long and rich history in the produce business. It was founded over 75 years ago by Morris and Sadie Cohn. Joined by their sons, Lester and Stanley, they arduously worked the dairy and fruit farm. By the time the sons came of age, the farm had evolved into a major apple orchard and packinghouse, encompassing 1,500 acres of orchards in three states.

The company steers clear of club apple varieties.

“Supermarkets support the New York apple crop year-round, and some are not offered club varieties,” explained Maresca. “We find it a bit counter-productive — it seems to go against the grain of fresh apples being available to everyone. We use the ‘New York Apple Country’ label, which implies our support for state-grown apples, and we also private label.”

Stanley Orchards ships primarily throughout New England, New York and New Jersey. And it exports some to Israel. Maresca noted that the company does export to other countries when market conditions are agreeable.

The company, Maresca explained, has had a good growing season, despite a bit of a drought in July.

“We got off to a really good start with nice day and good overnight temperatures,” he said. “Then we hit a wall in July for a few weeks with no moisture. We irrigated to work around that. Now, in early August, we’re getting nice rains. This is great because it’s helping the apples to size up.

Stanley Orchards is also committed to picking apples when they are ready to be picked, and not trying to get out of the gate earlier than they should.

“Some people try to get Ginger Golds off early, but we like to wait for the fruit to be ready,” he said. “Apples aren’t going to get shelf space until the first of September, so it’s senseless to ship apples that should still be growing on the trees. We’ll be into that crop next week, and will go full force from there.”

The company does a large tote bag business, which Maresca said is a tremendous marketing opportunity in early fall.

“Totes really speak to the fresh market with a message of wholesome and healthy,” he said. “And consumers have taken to them in a major way.”