Chapter 52: Royal Tioga, and M-206 (2)
TL: Hanguk
Frederick and I arrived at a large office building situated in the middle of the farm, where the tree canopies were being actively maintained. It served as a hub for various farm operations, equipment maintenance, and a break area for the workers. Chloe and Brandon were already there.
"You're switching varieties right away? No way!"
Before I could even properly bring up the topic, Brandon raised his voice in protest.
"I'm just trying to hear him out."
"We spent a fortune tearing up the soil and doing irrigation work! If we change varieties on top of that and it goes wrong, then what? There's no going back at that point!"
"I know. That's why I'm trying to hear him out."
Brandon's face flushed red as if he'd downed a whole bottle of wine, his nostrils flaring as he snapped at me.
"How much would it cost to switch varieties?"
"Hmm... if we replaced everything, it would be at least two million dollars, I'd say. That's a conservative estimate, so it could go a bit higher."
"You heard that! Two million dollars! That's about the same as our farm's entire annual revenue!"
Frederick calmly addressed the fuming Brandon.
"We make far more than that."
"It's still a huge amount of money..."
At that point, Chloe, who had been standing with her arms crossed and glaring, shouted.
"Will you please shut up! Nobody's saying we're definitely doing it. He's just saying let's hear him out!"
"You shut up!"
As the two siblings were about to go at it again, Frederick shouted at them with a stern expression.
"Enough!"
"......"
"......"
"This is my decision to make. And Brandon, you have the walnut farm. You don't have any say over the cherry farm. Just like Chloe can't tell you what to do with your walnut farm."
"Still..."
"Tsk...!"
When Frederick shot him a sharp look, Brandon, who resembled his father so closely, quietly closed his mouth and sat down. Once things calmed down a bit, Frederick turned to me.
His expression was slightly apologetic, and I gave an awkward smile before speaking up.
"Before I get into the three varieties I mentioned earlier, let me first explain why the Bing Cherries currently being grown at Harris Farm aren't ideal. First, Bing Cherries have a late maturation period. They're harvested from late May to early June. The problem is that cherry prices peak in early May due to scarcity. Once Bing Cherries flood the market in large volumes, it becomes impossible to command high prices."
"That's true."
"Second, the quality consistency is lacking. There's also variation in sugar content."
Chloe chimed in here.
"You said before that could be managed with properly timed fertilization and moisture control."
"Right, it can be. But there are inherent limitations with the variety itself. Bing Cherries are fundamentally prone to skin cracking under rain and excessive moisture conditions."
"Ah..."
"Third, the flesh is relatively soft, which makes it disadvantageous for long-distance shipping, and it has poor cold storage performance, making it difficult to deliver over long distances. Because of this, it's mostly consumed domestically within the U.S., and since it's hard to reach a wider pool of buyers, the wholesale price struggles to rise."
Frederick nodded along actively in agreement. I was essentially voicing everything he had felt firsthand while distributing Bing Cherries all this time, so it must have carried a great deal of weight.
"As I mentioned before, rather than switching varieties outright, proper fertilization and moisture management should come first. That alone can produce significant results. But if you go beyond that and actually change the varieties, a whole new world you couldn't see before will open up. And that new world means new customers."
"So you're saying we'd have more buyers?"
"Exactly. The first variety is Coral Champagne. I'm sure you're familiar with it."
"Yeah, I know it well. It's the main variety over in Central Valley."
"Yes. This variety has a very early harvest window. It can be harvested by mid-May, late May at the latest, and being able to get it to market first is a tremendous advantage. You know that the early market always has more demand than supply, so prices tend to be two to three times higher."
"Of course, I know that well."
"On top of that, the flavor is soft and sweet with a nice touch of acidity, giving it a fresh quality that customers will love. It's great on its own, and it pairs well with salads and desserts too."
Frederick gave a slight nod, and I moved right on to the second variety.
"The second is Royal Tioga. This one isn't well known yet, but Zaiger Genetics, a breeding company in California famous worldwide for their fruit breeding programs, is currently promoting it through their development program for farm distribution."
"Ah... right, I've heard of it!"
"But you probably dismissed it?"
"Ahem... I wasn't confident about it, I'll admit. I couldn't exactly volunteer to be the guinea pig."
"That's understandable. But Royal Tioga has clear advantages. It's harvested slightly later than Coral, roughly from early to mid-June. That's around the same timeframe as Bing Cherries, but the flesh is firm and the sugar content is high, making it strong for shipping and fresh distribution. The color is a vivid red, so it looks great too. It's suitable for export, and the pricing stays more stable compared to Coral. The sugar content can reach up to 21 Brix, making it the sweetest of the bunch. That's according to Zaiger's data, of course, but I personally consider it reliable."
This Royal Tioga would later become one of the leading varieties in the California cherry market, alongside Royal Hazel and Royal Lynn.
"Oh ho..."
"The last one is Sweetheart, developed in Canada. It has the latest harvest window, around early July. So if you go with Coral, Royal Tioga, and Sweetheart in sequence, you can spread your harvest across nearly two months, from mid-May to early July. Extending the harvest period means you don't have to cram all your labor into one window, and you can supply the market continuously. However, in terms of sweetness and flavor, it's less distinctive than Coral or Royal Tioga, so it's more of a supplementary variety for risk diversification."
"I see."
I paused and gauged Frederick's reaction. He was staring at the floor, deep in thought, while Brandon watched his father intently. His hope that his dad wouldn't switch varieties was written all over his face.
"So the reason for growing all three simultaneously is to maximize profits while spreading risk?"
"Exactly. Roughly a 3:5:2 ratio. The strategy is to allocate 50% to Royal Tioga and position it as the premium variety to maximize returns."
Honestly, from my perspective, the best outcome would be for Frederick to invest boldly and completely overhaul the farm's makeup. I knew the revenue that would come back to me would be enormous. However, that would put an immense amount of pressure on Frederick, so I hadn't pushed the idea aggressively.
"Hmm... it's true that spreading out the harvest windows would reduce climate risk and labor strain. More importantly, it would be far more stable against price fluctuations than relying on Bing Cherries as a single variety."
"Exactly."
"And what about you? If we switch varieties like this, there must be benefits for your winemaking too?"
"Nothing would be worse than Bing Cherries, but if I had to pick the most suitable one, it would be Royal Tioga. Well, that's something you can decide later."
Frederick moistened his lips with his tongue. What showed in his eyes was less hesitation than intense desire.
"...In theory, it's perfect."
"It's not just perfect in theory. Coral and Sweetheart have been proven not just theoretically but in actual practice. There's UC Davis research data on them, and there are farms in other regions that have already succeeded with them. The thing is, if we adopt Royal Tioga and try it first, we could become the most profitable farm in Brentwood."
Frederick bit his lip, forming something between a grimace and a grin.
"So all of this would cost an additional two million dollars?"
"Well... there are several approaches."
"But it would take at least five years, wouldn't it?"
"That's right. And this is where it gets important... If we do switch varieties, I'd recommend topworking, grafting onto existing trees, rather than buying new saplings."
"Topworking... hmm..."
"First of all, if you buy saplings and grow them from scratch, you'd have virtually no revenue for five years."
"That's exactly what worries me. But it's the most reliable method."
"True. For Coral or Sweetheart, since they're already being grown elsewhere, you can source two- to three-year-old saplings. They're a bit expensive, though... Still, doing that would cut the five-year timeline down to about three years. The problem is, as I mentioned, they're very expensive. You'd really have to budget over two million dollars."
"From that angle, grafting is definitely cheaper."
Frederick had farming experience, so he had naturally done topworking before, which made the conversation easy.
"With topworking, I can't guarantee it, but it would cost roughly one-eighth to one-ninth of buying saplings. Probably somewhere between 250,000 and 400,000 dollars at most. And the even better part is that the first commercial harvest comes a year sooner. That's three years faster compared to planting brand-new saplings."
The reason for such a dramatic cost difference was that buying scions was far cheaper than buying whole saplings. Even factoring in labor costs and royalties, the price per acre would be around 1,500 dollars at most, meaning 300,000 dollars could cover all 200 acres.
"See! It can be done way cheaper!"
Chloe immediately sprang to her feet and shouted at Brandon as if she'd won an argument. Brandon turned his head away as if he didn't want to hear it.
Meanwhile, since this price range made it possible to completely overhaul the farm's varieties in a short time without major revenue losses, Frederick was practically salivating.
"The process with Zaiger Genetics would be different from just buying scions from a nursery, wouldn't it?"
"That's right. You'd need to sign a trial cultivation contract with Zaiger Genetics. There would be licensing and contract costs, but it should still be cheaper than purchasing scions from a nursery."
"Hmm... so you're saying that with topworking, we could convert all 200 acres for only around 300,000 dollars?"
"That's right. But topworking does have a notable failure rate, and there's also the risk of pest damage, so it requires a lot of careful attention."
"Well, Chloe would work hard at that, wouldn't she?"
At Frederick's words, Chloe's eyes wavered for a moment, but she quickly squared her shoulders with confidence.
"Just leave it to me."
"...Well, in any case, since it takes two to three years to generate commercial revenue, I'd suggest making the switch over a three-year period."
"I wasn't planning to do it all at once either."
"Still, there is one piece of good news. Since this would be the first large-scale adoption, you might be able to negotiate a better price with Zaiger Genetics."
"Ha, you little... I can't believe a twenty-year-old kid is saying things like this. ... Alright. First, I'll need to check if we can get the saplings. And look into Zaiger as well."
I hadn't expected him to make a decision right here on the spot, so I asked with a somewhat curious expression.
"You can take your time deciding, you know. Or is this because of William Hartford?"
The moment William's name came up, Chloe scrunched her brow.
"Is that pig trying to merge our cherries with his again?"
"You know about that?"
"Of course I do. William's Hartford Farms keeps driving the unit price down with sheer volume. But their quality isn't that great. Our cherries are better. That's why he keeps trying to bundle our cherries with his and put them on the market together."
I looked at Frederick.
"Is that what's going on?"
"That's right. I distribute our farm's cherries separately, and because of that, some retailers give ours a slight premium and take them preferentially. From William's perspective, our farm must be a real thorn in his side. That's why he's been pressuring us like that."
"Ah... so that's why..."
I had wondered why he seemed so uncomfortable around William, and now it made sense. Then something suddenly crossed my mind, and I turned to Chloe.
"You knew your dad was struggling with all this, and you still weren't paying attention to the cherry farm?"
Chloe's eyes widened for a moment, and then she said in a voice that shrank to almost nothing.
"No, I knew... but there wasn't really anything I could do... The cherries were Dad's thing, so..."
"Ha, now I understand why you were thinking about selling the farm."
Frederick wore a deeply moved expression.
"You really do understand me, son. You think this is the first time I've talked about this? Whenever I brought it up, those two would just get angry, and then the moment I asked them to actually help, they'd be the first to bail."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
The two siblings quietly turned their heads away as the conversation shifted to something unflattering about them.
"In any case, I'm rooting for you."
"You're worth more than both my kids combined. Honestly..."
Frederick looked at his children, who had sheepishly averted their gazes, and shook his head.
*****
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