Apple Crop Preview

Apple Crop Preview. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

It’s still a bit early in the 2011 apple season but according to Rebecca Lyons, Export Marketing Manager for the Washington Apple Commission they are expecting a bit smaller crop.

LYONS: This year is a record crop and so next year is going to be smaller. Looking like it’s going to be between 100 and 105 million bushels. This year was a record 109 million bushels so we’re down but not dramatically down.

Lyons says one of the factors plaguing growers is something completely out of their control.

LYONS: The other thing that is going on is because of this cooler weather that we’ve had in the spring and even into summer looks like we’re going to be running about 2 weeks late although there’s still time between now and harvest so that could change. So it definitely looks like we’re still going to be looking at a good crop

She says there is some carry over to take care of.

LYONS: That’s the other very interesting situation that we’re in because we have a record crop and yet we have record movement and so going into the next year we’ll be finishing up very strongly I think. You know in some of the varieties that don’t store well, they’re out of those, finishing up on those. Of course Reds store very well and so the folks that have Reds in storage will plan to keep those through September/October to overlap into that new crop harvest.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.