The Peru Gazette

Melvin Irwin with the Irwin family farm in the background

By John T Ryan

The face of agriculture in our community continues to change. On November 27, 2014 Melvin Irwin started cutting trees at his family’s orchard at the corner of the River and Jarvis Roads, not far from the Peru Elementary School. When he’s finished about 120 of the orchard’s 800 trees will be gone and forage corn will be planted in its place.

While Melvin, Jim and Bob Irwin are known as very successful dairy farmers, their small 1000-tree McIntosh/Cortland orchard has been a profitable business. Melvin explained, “My father Kermit planted these trees at least 60 years ago. Several local dairy farmers got into the apple business about that time. Some even left dairy and became orchardists. We could make money in a good year. Back when everyone made pies, cars would line up when people stopped to buy drops.”

Finding apple pickers is difficult especially for a small orchardist. This year the Irwins hired three Crown Point men to pick the crop and ended up helping to complete the job. An abundant apple crop across the country resulted in low prices. Melvin said, “We were fortunate enough to sell the crop to a Massachusetts wholesaler.”

It wasn’t hard to sense that Melvin Irwin enjoys the apple business and resisted cutting more than twenty percent of the orchard’s trees. Apple prices and labor availability will undoubtedly dictate the orchard’s future. The apple wood that Melvin was piling high today will eventually warm the Irwin brothers’ homes and families.