Grape Crop Update

Grape Crop Update. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

The 2011 juice grape harvest is like just about everything else this year...late. Mike Concienne, Regional Manager for National Grape Cooperative.

CONCIENNE: We’re very late. We’re 3 weeks late. It’s a crop of extremes. We’ve got areas in the growing area like the reservation and Mabton, even the Tri City area are much lighter than normal and some places especially the reservation, we’ve got a number of people who aren’t even going to pick. And then we’ve got areas like up in the Rosa that are looking at well above normal crops.

He says the sugars are lower than normal because of the lateness. A recent NASS report says the overall grape crop this year will be down.

CONCIENNE: The Michigan area is picking an above average crop and then the New York or what we call the Tri-State area, they have pretty close to an average crop so I think when you look at all areas combined it’s down. I know we’re down here.

Prices are holding but this is definitely a year of firsts for the grape industry.

CONCIENNE: Actually the cash prices were announced. I think we have one processor who hasn’t come out yet but cash prices have gone up from 210 to I think they’re at 251 or 250. So it has gone up. We’re just late. Here at National we had the latest bloom on record, we had the latest verasian on record which is 5% color and now we have the latest Concord start on record.

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