Hailstorm Catches Apples

Hailstorm Catches Apples. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Recently some of the largest apple growing regions of the state were hit by heavy rains and hail. The hail damage has growers trying to determine what kinds of losses there will be this year. KayDee Gilkey has more.

GILKEY: Damage estimates from the July 20th hailstorm which saw hailstone from marble to ping pong ball size and larger is anywhere from 10 to 25% of the states crop. Typically the amount of damage is limited to small areas but according to reports one storm was 15 miles wide, 10 miles long and lasted for 10 to 15 minutes straight. It moved right through the heart of the tree fruit area. Tree fruit from the east and upper midwest has been down significantly due to the drought conditions. It was hoped that the northwest crop could take up some of that slack especially for places like farmer’s markets. Early estimates for the 2012 apple crop were in the 120 million cartons or more area.

Thanks KayDee. There is talk of developing a hail grade bag program that would have slightly dented fruit. New crop estimates are due out shortly and it will be interesting to see what those number are.

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