Apple season at its peak
MILTON – State Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball and others were given a tour of Hudson River Fruit Distributors, a family-owned apple distribution business and a New York State Grown & Certified Producer in Milton.
Alisha Albinder, director of Operations and great-granddaughter of founder Harold Albinder, conducted the tour for a select few officials in the local food production and distribution industry. Spectators watched as factory workers gathered apples together in packages as they were climbing down the conveyer belts.
Commissioner Ball was quite impressed with what he saw. “This is one of our showcases of how to do it right,” he said. “They have achieved a very high level of production here, which is something that was very easy for them to do because the marketplace has wanted this for a long time.”
Albinder broke down the process of how her family’s business achieves its optimal level of production. “We’re really focused on efficiencies, because that is where this world in agriculture is going to,” she said.
Once the apples are packaged, they are distributed to local and national chain stores such as Adams’ Fairacre Farms and Whole Foods. The varieties of apples produced by the company include Honey Crisp and Red Delicious, which are in season this time around.
Hudson River Fruit Distributors is a generational operation, started in 1963 by Isadore “Izzy” Albinder and his son Harold Albinder. The venture emerged after the elder Albinder could not find high-quality apples while operating an apple business in Brooklyn, where he emigrated from Russia in 1932.
The elder Albinder moved to the Hudson Valley and cultivated relationships with local growers. Since then, his creation has been passed on to his grandson, Danny, who serves as the chief operating officer, and his great-granddaughter.
New York State Grown & Certified was launched by the state in 2016. It is designed to strengthen consumer confidence in New York-based food products, address food product labeling, and assist New York farmers so they can take advantage of the growing market demand for locally-grown produce.
