Expecting A Big Apple Crop

There is a potential for a record apple crop in the northwest this fall but also looming on the horizon could be labor issues with not enough hands to pick a large crop according to Todd Fryhover with the Washington Apple Commission.

FRYHOVER: The ag industry is very heavily dependent upon immigration labor and we need those people and if we don't there will be significant impact to the industry all over the state of Washington and also to prices of apples domestically and internationally.

Fryhover says the apple industry has been slowly evolving.

FRYHOVER: We're moving away from what has traditionally been the big three; Reds, the Golden's and the Granny's into of course Gala's, Fuji, Honeycrisp and a whole slew of club varieties that match up just perfectly with what the domestic consumer is looking for by taste and texture.

And he says it's important to remember that the northwest apple crop is not just about volume.

FRYHOVER: People talk about these big crops that are in the future and could be in the future this year and they get concerned about volume but I like to point out to these people, it's not necessarily all about volume. It's about what makes up that volume. We have a different fruit basket today than we had even five years ago and I think it is more exciting to the consumers than it ever has been.

More tomorrow on the changing apple industry.

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