A Year For Busting Records

A Year For Busting Records

A Year For Busting Records

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

Like so many other crops this year the state's apple crop is expected to be a record breaker with estimates of over 140 million bushels. Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission, says the major portion of the increase will be seen in new varieties.

FRYHOVER: It's not a small number - 140,190,000 is a large crop, there's no question about that. But when you really analyze that number - number 1: we knew this crop was coming. This is the on year and it is very predictable that we would see a number such as this. Number 2: when you look at the increases it's all in the new varieties. We see an increase in Gala, in Honey Crisp, in Cripps Pink, in Fuji. So those things match with the demand that's out there now for Washington. So, although the number is quite a bit larger than what we've had in the past we're very supportive of the changes in the varietal structure.

That large number means that this year's crop will be up roughly 11.5 million cartons from the 2012 crop, which was Washington's largest apple crop to date. While such a large crop could pose export challenges, especially with the recent ban on U.S. ag by Russia, Fryhover says export demand remains high and that there are more than 60 countries who import Washington apples.

FRYHOVER: As we move out of Russia we'll move more into some of our traditional markets. Mexico will play a critical role, Canada of course always plays a critical role. India is just a fascinating market that could take up to four million cartons as it has in the past. There's discussions about full varietal access into China that are going on right now so there's a lot of opportunities out there that we need to focus on and really execute here in the fall.

That's Washington Ag Today.

I'm Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.

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