Diane Goyette, Past Co-owner of the Orchard Verger Le Gros Pierre

Video of Diane Goyette, past co-owner of the orchard, Verger Le Gros Pierre, talking about the innovations in dwarf apple trees. She sits in front of shelves containing apples in bags. The video includes pictures of the orchard’s trees and apples. There are also illustrations explaining the evolution of dwarf apple trees, and images of individuals and families apple picking, and of visitors in the orchard both walking on foot and being pulled in a little wagon.

Transcription:

[Diane Goyette]

In 1980, Louis and I, Louis was my husband, bought some land in Compton; a very nice piece of land,

[A photo shows Louis Poulin and Diane Goyette in front of a row of small, flowering apple trees. The caption reads: “1980. Louis Poulin and Diane Goyette acquire some farmland in Compton. The area is known for its beautiful scenery and its rich soils. Many consider the area to be one of Quebec’s most beautiful growing zones!”]

where we decided to start an apple orchard. At the time, nothing about growing apples had changed in about 100 years; they were grown on very large trees, which we called “dinosaurs”. Great big trees, they took 7 years to produce fruit. So we began to look for where else in the world apples are grown, and found that in France apples were grown in tight rows, so on dwarf trees. Now that inspired us. We came back here with a new technique, with new ways of growing.

[A diagram showing the evolution of dwarf apple trees, with a representation of a human figure and four images of a dwarf tree shown at different stages of growth.]

So, we had to tranfer that technology over here, meaning small apple trees, grown on a human scale. Trees that could be pruned from the ground, picked from the ground; new varieties that can be introduced more rapidly because they produce at 3 years instead of at 7.

[Back to Diane Goyette]

So, this was almost heretical because the two of us, we weren’t apple growers, we weren’t from a farming background, but here we were introducing these dwarf apple trees.

[Images from the orchards: people picking apples, close ups of red apples and of signs identifying two different varieties, “Paulared” and “Summered”]

[Voice off-screen]

So everyone in the village was looking at us and saying: “Those little trees, they’re going to freeze this winter, they won’t produce anything, it’ll be a disaster.” So, three years later, we were producing some very nice apples and the trees have always been productive, and our orchard became a sort of pilot project,

[Back to Diane Goyette]

you could say, that everyone was coming to visit because we had these new techniques that came from France. We had to adapt the techniques to Quebec, because winters are hard,

[A scene of a person doing demonstrations before an audience. A father and daughter pick apples in the orchard, the little girl having a lot of fun. Visitors ride through the orchard on wagons.]

and we don’t have the same varieties of apples, so we’ve had to work hard, and we have always gone back to France, because the French are always a good 10 years ahead of us from a technical viewpoint, so this has enabled us to continue to innovate and to have an absolutely beautiful orchard.

[Back to Diane Goyette]

I think that when you’re an innovator, you say”let’s go” and push forward; our achievements were really big; we were producing large fruits because

[Visitors, families ride on a tractor-pulled wagon, while others walk through the orchard on foot.]

[Voice off-screen]

since the apple trees are small and organized in rows, they get more light; the apples are redder and of better quality because more sunlight reaches them. They’re easier to prune; women can work in this sort of orchard because it’s less difficult for them.

[Back to Diane Goyette]

We don’t prune the trees by climbing up with chainsaws. We can work with little pruning shears.