The goal of the Apples to Apples Project was to help hard cider growers—and makers—select apple varieties for a high-quality, artisanal product. To accomplish this, researchers compared the results of laboratory analysis and tastings of single-varietal ciders to identify desirable flavor characteristics.

CIAS is working with Wisconsin cider businesses to assess and address the needs and challenges of the state’s burgeoning cider industry.

A growing hard apple cider industry in the U.S. has the potential to contribute to local, sustainable food systems. In order to better understand this resurgent industry, CIAS surveyed hard apple cider businesses across 12 states in the North Central Region.

The Midwest is home to some successful nut businesses, and expanding tree nut production in this region can potentially increase the sustainability of agriculture and food systems.

Since 2000, the CIAS Eco-Fruit program has been helping growers reduce or eliminate risk from pesticides by using IPM. Participating growers have reduced their pesticide risk by 46 percent and increased their reliance on IPM strategies by 54 percent.

Full Circle is an organic farm to table delivery service based in western Washington that grows, sources and distributes fresh produce to West Coast communities on a subscription basis.

Red Tomato is a non-profit organization that carries out marketing and distribution functions for 40 fruit and vegetable farmers, mostly in the northeastern U.S.

Want to learn more about fruits like aronia, currants, Saskatoon, and even jostaberries? CIAS worked with Dale Secher of Carandale Farm to create a website detailing Secher’s 10 years of on-farm research on uncommon fruit crops.

The CIAS Eco-Fruit program is featured in the latest report on IPM from the American Farmland Trust.

This course is Part 1 of the Midwest Fruit IPM Course. It is a one-week, intensive course focusing on: Insect pests, diseases and appropriate management […]