Bittner-Singer Orchards, a 400-acre farm in Niagara County along the shores of Lake Ontario, has been growing fruit for over a century. But what looks like your average orchard is also a site of cutting-edge Cornell research.
The orchard is owned by Jim Bittner '80, a first-generation farmer who works closely with Cornell researchers who visit the farm weekly and collaborate with him on testing new varieties, integrated pest management, weather modeling, water potential and more.
With so much commercial attention on row crops, Bittner said he and other fruit and vegetable farmers depend on university-led research for everything from combatting pests and disease to designing their farms for optimal yields and crop health.
"If we didn't have university research," Bitter said, "it wouldn't get done."
Bittner runs the farm with his sons, Kevin '04 and David Bittner, both of whom are also graduates of LeadNY, a program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) aimed at training New York state's leaders in food and agriculture.
Bittner began his career in dairy but later pivoted to fruit. Apples are the top crop at Bittner-Singer Orchards, accounting for about half the total acreage. The other half is stone fruit, including cherries, plums, peaches, apricots and nectarines.
As are all fruits, vegetables and nuts, apples are categorized as specialty crops, as opposed to row or commodity crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat. Bittner said that because row crops account for far more total acreage than specialty crops, commercial interest and research tend to focus on the former.
By bringing research trials to farms, both growers and researchers can see how the research directly impacts their operations.
"These partnerships are tremendously important," said Terence Robinson, professor of horticulture (CALS), who has worked with Bittner on numerous trials over the years. "The implementation of the findings is much more rapid when it's done on a grower's farm."
Each July, the farm fills with visitors picking from the 50 varieties of cherries at one of the largest dwarf cherry orchards in the eastern United States. Many of the varieties Bittner grows were never formally named - leftovers of completed Cornell breeding trials. "It's one big experiment," Bittner said of his cherry orchard.
Bittner likes to say he'll "play" with any fruit varieties developed by Cornell. He's currently growing a one-acre plot of Everest Seedless grapes, bred at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, New York, to be the first seedless Concord-style grapes ever released. The grape has proven to be a popular seller on his farm.
Bittner has also been experimenting with organic apples since the '90s. The 15-acre apple orchard has been the site of numerous Cornell-led trials over the years, including mating disruption studies to ward off codling moth. Further mating disruption studies for Oriental fruit moth were so effective that Bittner prefers that method over conventional insecticides in the farm's peach orchards.
"It's economical and more effective," Bitter said, "and Cornell AgriTech proved that."
Rootstock trials bear fruit
As one of the relatively few commercial organic apple growers in New York state, Bittner has been a valuable partner for the Geneva Apple Rootstock Breeding Program's goal of boosting organic production of apples, Robinson said.
A pair of rootstock trials led by Robinson and Gennaro Fazio, a plant breeder and research geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service Plant Genetic Resources Unit and adjunct associate professor of horticulture at CALS, discovered that the Geneva 890 and Geneva 925 rootstocks performed well in Bittner's organic orchard. Those three-year trials, which concluded in 2023, have led to Robinson and Fazio recommending those rootstocks to organic growers across the eastern U.S.
Some apple trees in Bittner's orchard have shiny, insulated wraps protecting special sensors called microtensiometers. These devices, developed by Cornell researchers, measure how much water stress a tree is experiencing. These sensors are more commonly used in California vineyards, where water conservation is crucial, but Bittner was quick to embrace the technology. Starting with just one sensor, the orchard now uses 11, helping them precisely manage irrigation across the entire farm.
Bittner is also involved in the development of the Cornell Apple Carbohydrate Thinning Model, which uses information from farm-based weather stations to predict photosynthesis and carbohydrate assimilation in apple trees. This information gives growers data-backed guidance on the most effective methods for thinning trees. Too much chemical thinner and the yield will be small, with apples too large. Too little, and growers will end up with golf ball-sized apples that have little market value.
This model is among many that make up the Network for Environment and Weather Applications, a partnership between Cornell, Cornell Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and the Northeast Regional Climate Center. The network, which covers 26 states, provides farmers with access to more than 40 weather, crop management and IPM tools. The individual farmers pay for the weather stations.
The data, Bittner said, is even more valuable.
"Either the farmer is using these models, or their spray consultant is," Bittner said. "This information is being used on their farm, whether they know it or not."
Jacob Pucci is a freelance writer for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
