More on the 2011 Apple Crop

More on the 2011 Apple Crop

More on the 2011 Apple Crop. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

There are a couple of factors to consider when looking at a crop like apples. Size and quality. This years apple crop in the northwest will not be a record breaker from the size or volume side but according to the President of the Washington Apple Commission, Todd Fryhover, quality might be another thing.

FRYHOVER: Here in Washington we obviously sit down as a group and look at the western region and Washington being the largest component of that and we’re looking at another very high quality crop coming out of Washington. The growing weather has been absolutely ideal. I don’t think we have had a day in the 100 degree temperature mark yet. There’s very little sunburn out there. I think from a quality standpoint we are going to have one of our most positive crops that we’ve had in recent years.

Volume does appear to be down around 106-million bushels but still that would be the third largest crop in history. Another issue on the back-burner you can’t forget about is the question of labor.

FRYHOVER: That’s a big question. I think there’s always concerns. You know with a crop that’s going to be somewhere between 10 and 14 days later and who know what the future is going to being in November - we cold have an early snow. It’s really hard to say but clearly the harvest has the potential to be more condensed or compressed than it has in the future and labor really is the major focus of getting that crop harvested with that shorter time frame, potentially.

Fryhover says there is much work to be done at the federal level in figuring out the immigration issue to help guarantee that workforce.

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

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