FoA 318: The Budding American (Hard) Cider Industry with Greg Peck, Ph.D.

Thank you to our quarterly presenting sponsor: Calgary, Alberta! www.CalgaryAgBusiness.com 

Greg Peck research: https://hardcider.cals.cornell.edu/

Cider Chat Podcast: https://ciderchat.com/ 

Today is an episode I’ve been very excited about for a long time because it combines three of my biggest passions: cider, farming, and this podcast. It’s part history of apples and cider, part analysis of the growing cider industry, and part personal indulgence of asking an expert if I’m crazy to dream of one-day owning an orchard-based cider company. 

Dr. Greg Peck is a pomologist, cider expert, and an associate professor in the School of Integrative Plant Sciences at Cornell University. His research addresses the challenges of sustainably and profitably producing tree fruits, and has conducted research in fruit-crop production systems in California, Washington, New York, and Virginia. He really has become a leader and expert in cider in the U.S., and received the American Cider Association’s 2018 Grower Advocate of the Year Award. 

As you can already tell, this episode was selfish for me in a lot of ways as a hobbyist cidermaker myself who has planted a dozen or so apple trees. But there’s some really great stuff in here that touches on history of agriculture, local agritourism, wine, climate change, and farm economics. Enjoy this episode with Dr. Greg Peck.