PEI's 'apple king' Bert Haneveld dies at 83

Montague, PEI - In 1950, Bert Haneveld threw a dart at the map of the world.

It landed on Prince Edward Island and with only $80 in his pocket and an old suit, the Dutch immigrant left his native Holland to become the apple king of PEI.

Haneveld died last Thursday (Sept. 18) after a lengthy battle with diabetes and cancer.

He was 83 and left a legacy in the agricultural world with his work in the apple industry.

He opened the first apple U-pick in the province along with becoming a commercial operation that stocked store shelves.

We were good friends and loved to go hunting, recalled long-time friend Jakob Koke.

But I can remember one very successful day for the geese when we had the wrong shells.

When he was 15 years old, Haneveld and his brother and a friend were picked up by the Nazis and put on a train to Germany.

Lambertus Bernardus Haneveld and the friend mustered up the courage to jump off and escape. Fortunately, the brother was able to find his way home weeks later.

At his funeral, mourners were told that Haneveld left Holland with a dream to own land.

When the 25-year-old arrived on the Island, it was April and he took a horse and cartthrough snow and mudto a Union Road farm to work as a labourer.

But two years later, with shallow pockets and a baby coming, he considered a move to Ontario.

Well-known Hazelbrook farmer Charlie Scranton talked him out of leaving and helped get him established on a chicken farm in Lower Montague.

Haneveld grew lots of veggies but really saw potential in the apple orchard.

Everyone said you couldnt grow apples on a commercial scale here, said Barry Balsom of Arlington Orchards in Arlington.

Bert showed us that it could be done and we owe him a debt of gratitude.

Haneveld expanded Maple Farms operation with different varieties suitable to a Maritime climate and experimented with grafting trees to determine what made apples sweet or sour.

At one time, with wife Verna, he produced eggs with as many as 15,000 hens and cages.

A pesticide called Alar caused an apple industry stir in the early 1990s.

Haneveld didnt use such applications and public fear was allayed when a PEI doctor said the best apples for public consumption were grown at Bert Hanevelds farm.

Berts apple farm became so big that people from all over the Island came picking, said Koke.

It became a family outing for people every fall.

(This article was originally published in The Guardian.)