Wayne County is New York's top apple-producing county, with Sodus Bay on the lake and more than 150 manufacturers near Rochester and Syracuse.
Apply Now →Wayne County lies on the south shore of Lake Ontario, east of Rochester and northwest of Syracuse, less than 50 miles from Syracuse. The 2020 census counted 91,283 residents. The county seat is Lyons. The county was formed in 1823 from parts of Seneca and Ontario counties. Its area is 1,383 square miles, but 779 of them are water, and Sodus Bay is on the northern shoreline. It is considered part of both the Finger Lakes region and the Rochester metropolitan area.
Wayne County ranks as New York's top apple-producing county and is recognized as one of the world's most productive fruit-growing regions. That supports not only growers but also packers, truckers, equipment dealers, cold-storage operators, farm-stand owners and seasonal labor contractors. Revenue depends on the harvest and the market price, while many costs arrive earlier.
According to the county's Industrial Development Agency, there are over 150 manufacturing firms in the county. Those firms draw on a workforce from colleges within about an hour's drive. The larger villages include Newark at 9,017, Palmyra at 3,305, Clyde at 2,171, Sodus at 1,667, Wolcott at 1,556 and Sodus Point at 822. Small shops, diners and trades in each depend on a few local employers and the surrounding farms.
Before the Erie Canal opened in 1823, the hamlet of Pultneyville was the county's only port, with shipping that reached the Atlantic via the St. Lawrence. Sodus Bay was picked early as a commercial center. Today Sodus Bay and the lakeshore are places for boating, fishing and summer visitors, with marinas, restaurants, cottages and rental operators who work a short season.
For illustration only, an orchard operator may spend $50,000 on pickers' wages, bins and fuel across a six-week harvest, then sell fruit through packers that settle weeks afterward. A hailstorm or a price dip changes the margin but not the earlier spending. Round figures, not our terms or a typical outcome.
Fruit growers and packers invest in cold storage, sorting lines, trucks and tractors, all of which have long lifespans but high up-front costs. A packer that wants a larger cooler faces a timing choice: buy before harvest and carry the cost through the season, or wait and risk losing fruit or customers. The same applies to a marina buying new docks before summer or a manufacturer replacing a machine before an order ramps up.
For each of these, the practical question is the same: how long until the purchase pays back, and what happens to cash in between? Having a number for both makes the application and the decision clearer.
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