IDFTA 2004 AWARDS

Presented at the Annual IDFTA Conference, Bolzano, ITALY: March 2, 2004

Edited by Bruce Barritt

Photos by Win Cowgill

Dr. Gruppes's award accepted by Dr. Sabine Franken-Bembenek (l.) from Ken Hall (r.) IDFTA President

Werner Gruppe–Outstanding Researcher Award

Dr. Gruppe's vision in the 1960s of small and productive sweet cherry trees using dwarfing rootstocks has today led to a revolution in cherry production systems worldwide. Dr. Gruppe was born in Germany in 1920. He retired from a long career in pomology and fruit breeding in 1988 as a Professor Emeritus at Justus-Liebig-University Giessen in Germany. In 1965 Dr. Gruppe began a breeding program to develop dwarfing rootstocks for sweet cherry. Selections from his program became innovative low-vigor rootstocks. The first dwarfing cherry rootstocks were introduced to commercial production in the 1990s as the GiSelA clones (Gi for Giessen and Sel for selection). In the later years of the cherry rootstock program, two colleagues, Dr. Hanna Schmidt and Dr. Sabine Franken-Bembenek, assisted Dr. Gruppe with the selection and testing of the GiSelA clones. The new low-vigor rootstocks have made commercial cherry growing attractive for many growers around the world as harvesting costs are significantly reduced, growing intensity can be increased (high density plantings) and risk from spring frost, splitting and bird damage can be reduced by covering and netting of small trees. The success of these rootstocks is clear as in 2003 over 2 million GiSelA plants were sold by nurseries.

Kurt Werth–Industry Service Award

Kurt Werth has worked in various capacities in the apple industry in the Etsch Valley of South Tyrol, Italy. For many years he was a leader in the Advisory Service (Extension) for Fruit Growing. He has also managed a very large multi-site orchard in South Tyrol. He has undertaken many important industry projects. One postharvest quality project led to the publication of "Color and Quality of South Tyrolean Apple Varieties" in 1997. He has organized for the South Tyrolean industry the INTERPOMA conference which brings international speakers to South Tyrol to discuss important topics of the worldwide apple industry.Kurt Werth currently serves the South Tyrol apple industry as managing director of SK-Südtirol, the Variety Innovation Consortium of South Tyrol. In this capacity he coordinates the acquisition and evaluation of new apple varieties. He is widely traveled and is highly respected around the world. Kurt Werth has been a featured speaker at IDFTA conferences, including the Apple Orchard Systems Workshop in 2003. He played a major role in organizing the IDFTA 2004 conference in Bolzano, Italy. He has hosted several IDFTA study tours in South Tyrol. He has always been willing to share his knowledge and has been very supportive of the IDFTA educational mission.

Michel Weber–Industry Service Award

Michael Weber is a private advisor and fruit business consultant in the Bodensee region of southwest Germany. His undergraduate degree was in horticulture and he recently received an MBA in International Marketing. He first worked in extension and later as a fieldman/advisor for a fruit cooperative. His specialization has been apple, sweet cherry and plum orchard management. He is currently Managing Director of his own company "webfruit" whose core business is in three areas: 1) technical support, 2) marketing projects and 3) international trading. Michael has been a speaker at several IDFTA conferences and has served as an excellent host and guide for several IDFTA tours in the Bodensee region. As part of the Fruit World fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and the February 2004 IDFTA pre-conference tour in the Bodensee area, he organized an excellent workshop on apple and sweet cherry management. His knowledge of new vigor-controlling sweet cherry rootstocks in Germany (GiSelA and Weiroot), of the many new sweet cherry varieties in Europe and of new training techniques for sweet cherry have been widely shared and appreciated

Ferdinand Marini–Grower of the Year Award

Retired orchardist Ferdinand Marini of Bolzano, Italy, who has been a pioneer in the apple industry of the South Tyrol, was named Grower of the Year. In 1969, in an era of large, multi-leader and palmette apple trees on vigorous rootstocks, he was the first in the area to plant an orchard on Malling 9 rootstocks. He was among the first to introduce new varieties such as Granny Smith and Royal Gala. He was a leader in converting from conventional to Integrated Pest Management and was the first grower in the area to use mating disruption for codling moth control. He was the first to use low-volume spray techniques and the first to use picking machines.

Charles and Paulette Ax–Distinguished Service Award

Charles and Paulette Ax began their service to IDFTA as Business Director and Treasurer for the organization in 1988. Hershey was the site of the annual meeting that year, in their home state of Pennsylvania. Their commitment to IDFTA would soon be taking them farther away from home. They traveled southwest to Fresno, California, for the 1989 annual meeting. They would find out later what a rarity it was for IDFTA to select such a warm location for an annual conference. Over the years, there would be thirty-some other trips across the US and Canada, and one nearly halfway around the world in 2000, for the annual conference in Napier, New Zealand. With a recent trip to Italy for the 2004 conference in Bolzano, the traveling on behalf of IDFTA is nearing an end. Charlie and Paulette will retire from their business management positions for the organization at the end of July 2004. Their last trip in an official role for IDFTA will be to travel to La Crosse, Wisconsin, for the summer tour in June. Charlie and Paulette have served IDFTA very well. They have handled it all, from membership, conference and summer tour registration, to budget and accounting. In spite of declining membership, their prudent fiscal management has kept IDFTA in sound financial condition. They have served nine IDFTA presidents. Hundreds of pages of board meeting minutes have been transcribed. Thousands of meeting notices have been mailed. Thousands of miles have been traveled in cars, buses, planes and on the occasional wagon. They have juggled their IDFTA responsibilities with their real life jobs in Pennsylvania, where Charlie is a practicing attorney and Paulette is a nurse. Additionally, they operate their own seasonal farm market. It is apparent that they will not have trouble keeping busy. We hope that they will find more time for sewing, for antique hunting and for enjoying grandchildren. We are sincerely grateful for their sixteen years of service to IDFTA.