The Peru Gazette

By John T. Ryan

Beginning July 23^rd Peru residents traveling by Forrence Orchard’s River Road warehouse noticed piles of sand being dumped along the warehouse’s east side and many wondered what was happening. Four weeks later passersby can easily see that the warehouse is undergoing a major expansion. In fact Forrence’s are constructing a 60 ft. x 195 ft. or almost 12,000 square foot addition which will house a new apple packing line. They hope to be operating by the end of October. David Gordon is the general contractor.

Seth Forrence said his family is investing in the future. He explained, “The new packing machine will be more adapted to packing larger apples such as Cortland and Honeycrisp. It still can pack Macs, but we’ll be able to pack various varieties and have them immediately ready for the marketplace.” While all apples leave Forrence’s by the tractor-trailer load, one truck may contain several varieties. The new machine will easily pack three pallets of one variety, five pallets of another variety, etc. Forrence said he anticipated having to hire more packing personnel saying, “We hope to stimulate jobs in the local economy.” Forrence’s Route 22 packing house will continue in full operation.

Forrence Orchards harvests between 500,000 and 600,000 bushels of apples annually on their 1200 acre farm. That’s between 20 and 24 million pounds of apples or between 500 and 600 forty-foot tractor trailer loads. Their primary varieties are McIntosh, Honeycrisp and Cortland. Two hundred and five Jamaican men are arriving over the next few days to pick Forrence Orchard’s 2010 crop. Seth Forrence says, “The crop isn’t as large as last year’s, but it’s a very nice crop.”