By Karen Gentry
Associate Editor

Jim Koan, a grower of apples, organic vegetables, keeper of a herd of reindeer and seller of woodstoves is a busy man. He is well known in local and state grower organizations in Michigan and especially proud of his involvement in the Michigan Cider Guild.

The guild was formed when mandated federal requirements were coming down the pike and Michigan wanted to be proactive.

“This is really a pet project of mine right now,” said Koan, who is vice chair of the guild and owner of Al-Mar Orchard west of Flint, Mich. He said the guild is made up of a group of people trying to protect the industry going through a lot of changes. Michigan went from 125-130 licensed cider mills a couple of years ago to less than 100 today.

Koan said the new HAACP program was the first time interstate and intrastate regulations were put in place regarding juice.

“They (federal government) told every state ‘we’re going to tell you what to do,’” Koan said. “All of a sudden they’re going to mandate what’s going to happen. It really rocked the boat.” That’s when many decided they weren’t going to make cider.

Together with Bob Tritten, Extension agent in East Michigan, Patrick O’Connor from the Michigan Apple Committee and Sandy Hill from the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA), and a handful of others, the guild was formed.

The new cider guild members decided to develop standards for Michigan that were even stricter than the high standards set by MDA. Koan said other states now recognize Michigan as the leader and want to model their standards after Michigan’s.

Through the guild cidermakers are encouraged to take part in an intensive educational workshop where they write SOP’s (standard operating procedures), which take 40-50 hours to write. At the last workshop 40 operators, most of them part-time cider makers, went through the program.

A fall promotion by the guild publicized Michigan’s cider as the safest, most sanitary cider available, according to Koan. “We outlawed drops for making cider,” said Koan.

Koan has been making cider for a long time, both pasteurized and unpasteurized. He said that currently no one can tell the difference between pasteurized and unpasteurized that is made in his 1,200-square foot cider room. Flushing, where Al-Mar Orchards is located, has a micro-climate with flat land suitable for growing fruit. Heavy clay soil helps hold the heat and is not as vulnerable to frost, according to Koan.

The Koan family has been growing apples commercially for 100 years. Koan’s father, Albert planted an orchard in 1948, that is separate from the nearby Koan’s Orchards.

Growing up, Koan said he looked forward to leaving the farm and did so for a number of years before returning in the mid 1970s. “I decided there were a lot of rewards in the fruit growing business that I hadn’t seen as a teenager,” he said.

“He (Koan’s father) enticed me to come back. He offered me a partnership,” said Koan. He said the small family business couldn’t handle two families, so Koan planted a lot more trees and started selling wholesale to small local stores.

The number of commercial orchards in the Flint area has dwindled since the early 1900s, when there were a lot of fruit growers. Koan said there were 25 orchards in a five-mile radius back in the 1930s-1950s.

“In the 1970s and early 1980s apple growing was pretty lucrative when you compare it to today,” Koan said. He credits university researchers at Michigan State University (MSU), Washington State University and Cornell University with many new innovations during the 1950s-1970s. Hundreds of innovative ideas increased the production of growers during that time.

He said during today’s different point in the curve, production cannot be increased and quality has reached a plateau.

“We can’t increase profit as fast as overhead is going up,” Koan said. Because of CA storage high quality apples are available year round and competition is keener. Early in his apple career Koan sold to many local stores, where he could barter with local grocers.

Al-Mar Orchards have flip flopped where over 15 years ago they sold 20% wholesale, 80% retail and then it went to 80% wholesale and 20% retail. “Now we’re going back and concentrating on retail,” Koan said, who said he has lost some major accounts.

This fall he started u-pick apples again after a first attempt at u-pick apples several years ago frustrated him because of customers’ carelessness in the orchards.

Koan has been moving a lot of different things into his retail market in the last two years. He sells peaches, plums, raspberries, strawberries and asparagus at their retail market to bring in more people in the spring and summer. They’ve always sold pumpkins and are doing some sweet corn this year.

He decided to expand into organic vegetables and started out with 10 acres and last year added another five acres. All of his organic vegetables are sold retail where he has been getting premium prices. Koan attracts people who want local organic produce and word-of-mouth has been the only advertising needed.

“Last year we moved all of our product (organic) without ever advertising,” Koan said.

Koan finds growing organic labor intensive. He said he spent most of his time with the organic vegetable while other employees handle his other 85 acres.

“When I moved into growing organic, it made me a better conventional grower,” said Koan. In his apple orchards Koan has been using IPM for many, many years. He said going organic was a natural progression from the IPM methods he had been using. In the transition to organic, Koan was down to one organophosphate spray per year and no man-made fertilizer, no herbicide except Roundup. He highly recommends MSU’s IPM school that he has attended for the last 10-12 years. He now uses a lot of mating disruption and the last couple of years he’s also hired a scout for an additional set of eyes.

“I feel that my customers have confidence in apples that I grow. When you get a news scare, they already have a relationship with growers so it’s not going to hurt you as much,” Koan said.

Koan designed his own apple maggot trap using a plastic container and Hexabanate. Maggots are attracted to the trap because it smells like a ripe apple. He used Surround eight to 10 times a year. Koan grows about 25 varieties of apples and plans to eventually decrease his apple acreage to 50 acres.

Koan has always maintained a large petting zoo. He keeps 10 horses for evening hayrides through the orchard. His menagerie of animals also includes lambs, geese, pigs goats and a herd of 24 reindeer that he takes to parties and schools.

Koan’s five children, ages 11-21 help out around the farm and take care of the animals. They spend 45 minutes after school each day plus weekends taking care of the animals. Koan believes that this instills self discipline and a mature attitude in his children.

Koan has found a way to reduce his heat bills through the use of woodstoves that can accept large chunks of trees as they are cut down. He now sells woodstoves from a South Carolina company to other growers.

“It’s great for anybody who’s got trees to get rid of,” Koan said. The stoves heat his hot water and provide heat for all of his buildings.

Koan is active politically. He is the vice chair of a Genesee County soil and land conservation committee which helps educate officials and the public about new farmland preservation tools. He is active with the Shiawasee County Farmland and Open Space Preservation Committee and he still serves on the Genessee County Farm Bureau Political Action Committee and chair of the Shiawassee County Zoning Board of Appeals. He is on the board of the directors of the Michigan State Horticultural Society, Great Lakes Expo Board, and he belongs to the Michigan IPM Alliance. He also serves on the Michigan Processing Apple Growers Committee that is part of MACMA. He is a regular speaker in schools to help educate youngsters about how apples are grown.

He believes that all growers must become active in state and local politics or they won’t survive as growers. “Until you get involved in trying to change the system for the better, you don’t realize how low you are in the food chain. We are a very vulnerable industry,” Koan said.