More on the 2012 Apple Harvest

More On the 2012 Apple Harvest. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

The 2012 apple harvest is a whopper. The latest estimate was 121-million boxes and picking is still going on. Todd Fryhover, President of the Washington Apple Commission says with just over a week left of picking all-in-all it was a good year with some challenges.

FRYHOVER: Well labor was a challenging issue, there’s no question about that. Growers had to make choices early on in the season but in general we had a perfect harvest timing so it allowed growers the flexibility to put their labor where they needed it so we didn’t have too many issues.

Labor has been struggling for some answers and at least here in Washington State the H2A program seems to have helped.

FRYHOVER: I think those that participated in the H2A program had significantly less problems with labor than those that did not. So although the program is antiquated and extremely cumbersome on the paperwork side I think those that participated will continue to participate in the future and we perhaps may even see more growers enter into the H2A program in the future.

But fortunately as Fryhover said the timing on this crop helped ease some of those labor issues and have allowed for a massive crop right when the industry needed it.

FRYHOVER: Historically the largest crop was two seasons ago at just a little bit over 109-million so I think this is an indication of the aggressive plantings that our growers have had over the last 5 years.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.More On the 2012 Apple Harvest. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

The 2012 apple harvest is a whopper. The latest estimate was 121-million boxes and picking is still going on. Todd Fryhover, President of the Washington Apple Commission says with just over a week left of picking all-in-all it was a good year with some challenges.

FRYHOVER: Well labor was a challenging issue, there’s no question about that. Growers had to make choices early on in the season but in general we had a perfect harvest timing so it allowed growers the flexibility to put their labor where they needed it so we didn’t have too many issues.

Labor has been struggling for some answers and at least here in Washington State the H2A program seems to have helped.

FRYHOVER: I think those that participated in the H2A program had significantly less problems with labor than those that did not. So although the program is antiquated and extremely cumbersome on the paperwork side I think those that participated will continue to participate in the future and we perhaps may even see more growers enter into the H2A program in the future.

But fortunately as Fryhover said the timing on this crop helped ease some of those labor issues and have allowed for a massive crop right when the industry needed it.

FRYHOVER: Historically the largest crop was two seasons ago at just a little bit over 109-million so I think this is an indication of the aggressive plantings that our growers have had over the last 5 years.

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