Wolcott, NY – Crunch Time Apple Growers has announced that Walter Blackler (District 4) and Jim Bittner (District 6) have been re-elected to the organization’s board of directors for a third term.
Walter Blackler has served on Crunch Time’s board of directors as treasurer since its inception in 2010. Blackler, an active member of the apple growing community for decades, is the majority owner of Apple Acres, LLC, based in Lafayette, NY. His business operation consists of 150 acres of fresh apple orchard, cold storage for 120,000 bushels of apples, and a fresh apple packing line. He currently grows nine acres of SnapDragon® and RubyFrost® apples on his farm.
Jim Bittner has also served on Crunch Time’s board since 2010, playing a key role in leading the committee for best orchard practices. Bittner is the managing partner of Bittner-Singer Orchards, a five-hundred-acre fruit farm located in Northern Niagara County of New York State, along Lake Ontario near Niagara Falls. The farm currently grows apples (including some organically), sweet and tart cherries, peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines and pears for fresh sales and processing.
Bittner is also president of the Niagara County Farm Bureau, and past president of the New York Horticulture Society, Niagara County Cornell Cooperative Extension Board and Barker Lions Club.
“We are pleased to have Walter and Jim remain on our vibrant board of directors,” said John Teeple, Crunch Time’s board chairman. “We look forward to their continued expertise and oversight as we move forward with new business development initiatives.”