Finally Harvesting

Finally Harvesting

Finally Harvesting. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. One of the last apple varieties to be harvested is finally coming off the tree. Alan Taylor with Pink Lady America. TAYLOR: Well from what I understand they've been picking Pink Lady's in some of the earlier districts now for a number of days and it's becoming more and more general all the time as the weather continues to be really quite nice for this time of year during this time of year you can have some very cold conditions and so we are very exited the Pink Lady harvest is underway and apparently going quite well. The Pink Lady apples is actually a variety known as Cripp's Pink and sold under the Pink Lady name and whereas only a few years ago it was hard to find, you are seeing it more and more in the produce section. TAYLOR: Yes, the crop of Pink Lady's has been increasing albeit slowly. The projections I've seen have us up about 7% from last year which would mean we would go from close to 2.8 million boxes for the fresh market up to close to 3 million boxes so it's about a 7% increase as I understand it or at least that was the early projection. You probably won't see any in the stores just yet. TAYLOR: Quite often when they pick them they put them in storage for 2 or 3 weeks while the sugars come up and balance because when you pick it off the tree and eat it, it's very, very tart so often times it is put away for a little while to let that process take place. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
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