What separates successful growers in Washington from unsuccessful growers?

November 2024 | Presented by Jeff Cleveringa | Future Orchards® presentation and video

Jeff Cleveringa’s Future Orchards® presentation addresses a practical question: what is separating successful apple growers in Washington from growers who are struggling to achieve the same results? The session looks beyond a single production technique and instead considers the management habits, systems and decisions that underpin repeatable orchard performance.

The comparison is relevant because orchards can operate in the same broad market and production environment yet produce very different outcomes. Successful businesses tend to make production goals explicit, measure progress against those goals and identify underperforming blocks or processes early enough to act. The presentation encourages growers to look critically at how consistently standards are communicated and executed across the orchard.

The topic also highlights the importance of people and management discipline. Production potential is only realised when pruning, thinning, crop load, irrigation, harvest and other operations are completed at the required timing and quality. Clear responsibilities, capable supervisors and reliable feedback systems help convert technical knowledge into consistent results.

For Australian growers and advisers, the presentation provides a useful framework for reviewing their own business. The most useful questions are not simply whether a particular technique is being used, but whether the orchard has clear targets, accurate information, consistent execution and a process for learning from results and correcting underperformance.