Interview with Dr. Lee Kalcsits
Author: Hosted by Emily Lavely and Cheyenne Sloan
In this episode, we talk to Dr. Lee Kalcsits from Washington State University about how hot and cold events throughout the year impact production and fruit quality in pear and apple.
October 3, 2025
In this episode, we interview Dr. Lee Kalcsits from Washington State University to learn more about his research and a national project focusing on what happens to apple and pear when they face extreme heat or cold weather events. This project is called SPARC, and it is a Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) that brings leading tree fruit researchers together from across the country, including Michigan.
The goal of these research and extension efforts is to provide growers with actionable management strategies to mitigate crop losses, better risk analysis models and models to show current and future impacts of changing climate on apple and pear production.