On 18 Thursday mornings from April 24 through August 28, a group of apple growers came together over the phone to discuss holistic orchard management. Leading the calls was Michael Phillips, organic orchardist and author of The Apple Grower: A Guide for the Organic Orchardist. The breadth and depth of information covered on the calls was very impressive, with an emphasis on soil health and minimizing inputs. To see the topics covered on the calls, go to the Midwest Organic Tree Fruit Growers Network website.

The calls were popular among growers, with an average of 22 people listening to each call. Many found that the calls helped them to stay on track and gave them new ideas to improve their orchard systems.

To access call recordings, or for additional information on the calls, contact Lisa at ldipietro@wisc.edu or 608-265-3637. The Organic Apple Grower Hour was made possible with funding from the Organic Farming Research Foundation.