From syracuse.com [2015-09-27]:
Since the late 1890s, scientists at the [New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva] have painstakingly developed 66 new apple varieties. It’s the nation’s oldest and largest apple development program.
Susan Brown, an associate dean at Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, who oversees the Geneva apple program, is the mastermind pulling the genetic strings.
She is responsible for developing new apple varieties, and does everything from picking the apple’s parents to tasting apples and releasing the new apple trees.
“I choose which apple is the mother or father, and then I breed them,” Brown said. “It’s like shuffling cards, and then you pick and choose which varieties you want.
“I get to be like a detective, investigating and learning about things like diseases and insects, and running tests. Then I get to try new apples that no one has ever tasted before.”
Read the whole article: Mother of apple invention: Meet the woman, research center behind NY’s newest apples.