Apple Industry Part 3

Apple Industry Part 3. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

A record apple crop in Washington State happened at just the right time as the rest of the U.S. apple industry experienced huge losses. Todd Fryhover, President of the Washington State Apple Commission says there is some optimism with this coming year.

FRYHOVER: Well I think that in my particular case when I look ahead towards the next crop I think that it’s pretty clear that Washington is on a growth curve. 129-million is not an anomaly. We may drop off of that number next year and have somewhere in the 115 to 120 but realistically we have planted a lot of apples that are just now starting to produce.

Fryhover says to keep in mind that the Washington apple industry is not alone.

FRYHOVER: Our brethren in New York and Michigan and Pennsylvania are also planting apples. Not at the same pace that we are here but the importance of export markets in the future is going to become more and more critical as these crops in the United States continue to increase.

And of course the federal sequestration issue is affecting even the apple industry.

FRYHOVER: It has little affect to us here at the Washington Apple Commission but we do participate in the Market Access Program and that’s administered through the Foreign Agricultural Service and they are talking about the possibility of furlough’s which could slow down our processing.

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