OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — Apples have been grown at Rasmussen's Apple Acres since 1904, but now, the orchard may be facing it's last season; the current owner says he plans to sell after this year.
- Tom Lurvey, the current owner of Rasmussen's Apple Acres, says he is selling the orchard after this season.
- Lurvey says he loses $5-10,000 each year.
- Across the state, orchards are facing rising production costs.
Sisters, Karen Kennedy and Louise Randall, pick apples at Rasmussen’s Apple Acres on Friday, Sept. 26.
“I love apples, I love everything about apples,” Kennedy says.
The two grew up working at their grandparents’ orchard in Waupaca.
“This just brings back great memories,” Randall says.
The family lost the orchard in the 70s, so they enjoy coming to Rasmussen’s off HWY 21.
“It’s a fall tradition that I think everyone should experience,” Randall says.
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Tom Lurvey, a family friend of the original Rasmussen family, took over the orchard in 2017.
“I needed something to do when I retired, so I took this on,” he says.
After seven seasons, he’s getting ready to say goodbye.
“It’s losing money every year,” he says.
Lurvey says after the cost of agro chemicals, property taxes and insurance, he loses $5-10,000 each year.
“The price of everything has just gone through the roof,” he says.
Lurvey says for a large part of his season, he only sees about two customers a day.
“The newer generation, they’re not interested in apple picking, they’d rather buy them at the store,” he says.
Amaya Atucha is a professor of horticulture and crop production specialist for UW Extension. She says orchards across the state are experiencing the same struggle.
“The added tariff to some of these products, like we think about fertilizers, are going to continue to increase those prices of production,” she says.
Atucha says on top of production costs, it has become harder to find and afford skilled labor. Plus, unpredictable weather means farmers are forced to pay for crop insurance.
“I think all those things make it tough to be successful in this business,” she says.
Though, Atucha says this doesn’t mean the end for apple picking.
“I don’t think by any means the apple industry is going to disappear, but it just requires a lot of adjustment,” she says.
Lurvey says he hopes it isn’t the end for Rasmussen’s either.
“This is my last season, but if somebody else wants to come and buy it, that’s fine,” he says.
Overall, it’s an uncertain future for apple picking in Oshkosh.
“It makes me feel so sad,” Randall says. “We watched it when it happened to my grandparents' orchards, and it’s a passing of a generation that I don't think will be resurrected unless someone sees the importance of this.”
