Apples Get Going Part 2

Apples Get Going Part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

The 2012 apple crop is beginning to come off of the trees with some early varieties and of course will really get going in earnest here in the next few weeks. Cooler weather across the northwest will help with that. David Douglas with Douglas Fruit in Pasco talks about the most recent crop estimate.

DOUGLAS: I know that the August 1 crop forecast was for 108-million boxes which is pretty close to the same number of boxes that were shipped in the 2011 crop. We’re still shipping it so yet to be determined what that final numbers going to be but overall the estimate is for a pretty similar crop size to 2011.

Apples, unlike cherries, can be a 12 plus month crop meaning that apples picked in 2011 can still be held in cold storage to be shipped throughout the whole next year.

DOUGLAS: Our company is done packing the ’11 crop but there’s still...oh, I think the ship report last week showed a little over a million boxes shipped last week of apples and those apples would be from the 2011 crop.

Unless Mother Nature has more surprises in store this could wind up being a very good year for Washington apple producers since the remainder of the U.S. apple crop has seen some very hard times and those apples from Michigan and the eastern U.S. will be in very tight supply.

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