As autumn sets in at Wafler Farms, a familiar, sweet scent fills the air. The skyline forms a scenic view as it greets uninterrupted rows of apple trees bursting with this year’s bounty.
The harvest of fresh fruit is the core of Wafler Farms, Inc., a family-run apple orchard in the Wayne County town of Wolcott, one of the largest fruit-producing counties in North America.
The business, which has been around for three generations, is run by Morrisville State College alumni Paul Wafler ’84, his wife, Sue ’82, and their sons Kyle ’17 and Jacob, a current student.
Lois Wafler still oversees the operation she and her husband Fritz started 57 years ago on a run-down orchard no one expected to thrive.
Today, the 1,100-acre enterprise includes the apple orchards—growing more than 20 different varieties and yielding over 350,000 bushels per year, and a wholesale fruit tree nursery—growing approximately 800,000 trees per year.
Their apples, sold under the label New York Apple Sales, make their way to superstores all along the East Coast, including Walmart, Costco, Publix and Whole Foods. Their trees also are sold all over the United States, including Beak & Skiff Farms in LaFayette, one of the largest apple operations in New York.
Rooted in Wafler Farms’ success is hard work and an innovative spirit that has kept them on the cutting edge. And it’s what sets them apart from the rest.
A humble beginning
Fall is a busy time of year for the Waflers. It’s the end of the apple season and there is an abundant amount of work to do on the farm located in the heart of New York’s apple production on the southern shore of Lake Ontario.
Moving through the rows of fruit, Paul pauses to share his story with a group of growers from South Africa, there to learn about his growing and management techniques.
Paul’s father, Fritz Wafler, came to the United States at age 26 to gain knowledge for his family farm in Switzerland. During that time, he met his wife, Lois, in California. After they were married, they decided to buy and farm and set out across the country, eventually settling in Wolcott, NY. In 1960, they started Wafler Farms on a neglected, 178-acre orchard, selling mostly vegetables for income while they grew their own apple trees.
“It was Fritz’s dream. People told us it wouldn’t be successful,” said Lois, who at age 91 vividly recalls starting out with a few rows of rootstock planted with borrowed equipment.
Soon neighbors were asking the Waflers to grow trees for them. “We just kept adding rows,” Lois said, explaining how the commercial nursery got its start.
As they bought adjoining farms to grow their business, Fritz traveled to Europe to gain insight from other orchards, including ways to cut costs.
His industrious nature later found an outlet in his son, Paul, who is always experimenting with new ideas to run the orchard more efficiently. A jack of all trades and a master of modification, Paul’s knack for building and customizing equipment has saved the business a significant amount of money throughout the years.
Much of the work performed on the farm—dormant pruning, spring pruning, hand-thinning the trees and picking—is all done through some sort of assisted mechanization.
Gone are the days of carrying ladders to each tree to pick apples, thanks to a self-propelled harvest platform Paul devised.
The Huron Fruit System moving platform, used for almost all of their orchard work, is an elevated, tiered platform that carries six to eight workers and five bins in the center for the apples. As the equipment makes its way through an apple row at about 10 feet per minute, workers on each side pick and empty their apple bags into nearby bins.
“Picking 600 bins a day is a cake walk for us,” Paul said.
Before the apple harvesting platforms were used on their farm, it took 85 workers to pick 375 acres of apple trees. Now, with 12 machines in use, the Waflers are picking more apples with fewer people—66 workers harvesting 425 acres.
“The whole idea is to improve worker productivity,” said Paul’s brother Walter Wafler, manager of Huron Fruit Systems, the subsidiary which produces and sells the platforms.
Paul Wafler calculates all work on the harvester in travel time in feet per minute. He’s able to calculate how fast the harvester should be traveling and how much the day’s work will cost per acre.
“The harvester also increases the quality of the fruit because the pickers are not moving as much and that limits the bruising of the fruit,” Jacob said.
Another of Paul’s creations is a modified spray tank which accommodates extra equipment pulled by tractors, and machinery that makes mowing and weed control as efficient as possible. He also crafted a straddle trailer to haul fruit faster.
A new data collection system, tied in through a Global Positioning System, is helping the Waflers quantify their costs.
“Nobody is able to collect bushels per acre on the fly like we are doing,” Paul said of data collection done through solar panels on farm equipment, which enables them to map the rows and gather various data.
“We are trying to create more of a production factory system to be efficient and quantify our costs,” Paul said of the farm’s overall mission.
Their operation is turning heads and has become a learning tool for businesses conducting pesticide trials, too. The farm also works closely with Cornell University, testing trees and equipment.
Fruits of their labor
A lot of work goes into growing an apple crop. There’s preparing the site, optimizing the soil environment and knowing what varieties of apples to grow.
The Waflers are constantly assessing what will affect fruit quality and orchard sustainability.
Distance between rows and tree height are important considerations in fruit yield. Fuji, for example, is an apple which requires a lot of spacing.
They also changed the concept of their trees, planting them at an angle in a V-orchard system, allowing in more light and facilitating the farm’s moving platform system.
“The angle keeps the body out of the tree so we don’t damage the foliage,” Paul said.
Under Kyle’s direction, the farm is also growing cover crops—soybeans, clover and winter wheat as part of a soil management plan, a crop rotation that puts nutrients back into the soil and readies the area for a nursery again.
“A field that hasn’t rested properly doesn’t have the right makeup for a nursery,” Kyle explained.
Some of their lessons are through trial and error.
“Everything is a risk,” said Paul, who has taken many. “If there are four trains coming in, get on the first one. Look beyond, take risks and don’t wait for anyone else—figure it out yourself.”
That philosophy has set the stage for the farm and is instilled in Jacob and Kyle, the third generation of family members who plan to continue the legacy.
“I am planting the seed for them to take the technology, grow with it and advance it,” said Paul, who manages the horticultural operations in the orchard and nursery.
Family tree
For the Waflers, running the business as a family is the way to go. “It runs more efficiently this way and isn’t just a job to us,” said Jacob, who plans to head the nursery aspect of the business while Kyle takes over the orchard.
Paul and Sue met in the fruit-growing town of Williamson, where she was working at an electronics company. She joined the family and now runs the office. Carrie Herzog, a 2016 graduate of Morrisville’s agricultural business development bachelor’s degree program, recently came onboard as an office assistant and runs the social media.
The family takes pride in their Morrisville education.
“Graduates who come out of Morrisville—they keep moving,” Paul said. “They are very passionate. They have important skills and hands-on knowledge.”
That foundation has kept the Waflers progressive.
Today, the farm employs 20-120 workers depending on the season, including migrant workers who reside in on-site, upscale housing.
While a typical day doesn’t exist, “our employees work a nine-hour day Monday through Friday, sometimes more during harvest season,” Paul said of the daily routine. “For us, you never know what the day will bring.”
Winters are a time for the family to dig their nursery stock and prepare for shipping all of the nursery trees out in the spring. “We also build equipment, work on equipment and create prototypes,” Jacob said.
Harvest time
Harvesting apples at just the right time is key. It generally begins in September and goes through the beginning of November.
“It is based on sugar content, pressure testing of the apples, color and the varieties,” Sue said. Honeycrisps, for example, were harvested in September and Fujis in late October.
“Premature apple picking may lead to fruit that doesn’t taste good,” she explained. “Picking them too late or storing them on a shelf too long before they are sent to grocery stores, could lead to soft and mushy apples.”
Despite planning and mechanization, things don’t always run smoothly. Equipment breaks down and they are constantly battling Mother Nature—their greatest obstacle, according to Paul.
This year they worked through numerous complications, including severe hail storms. Damaged apples become juice or cider.
“This takes your fresh fruit apples (high-dollar) amount to a juice and or process commodity,” Sue said.
It also makes it harder on the picking end.
“The pickers have to evaluate the apples while picking and decide where the apple should go. The end of the summer was exceptionally hot, causing the apples to ripen more quickly than we could pick them,” Sue added.
Despite setbacks, it was a prime harvest for Wafler Farms.
What’s ahead for the budding business? “Never stay stagnant,” Paul said. “Our goal is to create a consistent quality product,” Kyle added.
For now they continue to do what they love with their prospering apple enterprise. “I am living this dream and building it every day,” Paul said.
