With federal crop insurance as a safety net, five apple growers in Vermont and New Hampshire are launching new IPM techniques to reduce apple scab. Participants in this project test IPM methods in a full orchard before the methods are extended to other growers. The Federal Crop Insurance Program plays a crucial role of protecting each acre with crop insurance. The cost to the grower is just a few dollars per acre.
Apple scab is a serious disease caused by a fungus that overwinters on infected fallen leaves.
If uncontrolled, scab results in severely blemished fruit that is largely unmarketable. Certain apple varieties are more susceptible than others. McIntosh apples, which constitute 62 percent of the New England apple crop, are particularly vulnerable. If scab does occur and the apples must be sold for processing instead of as a higher priced fresh-market crop, the farmers are insured for the difference between the two prices. In the past, growers would begin spraying fungicides in the spring without knowing their orchard's potential for disease.