Fuji to HoneyCrisp

With the fruit Grower Report, I'm Susan Allen Field. I like to check in with what our region's growers are up to Curtis Carter an apple farmer in Othello, WA. Has made the decision to move from Fuji to HoneyCrisp.

Carter: Right now the Honeycrisp is the market. If you recall several years ago the unions went on strike on the coast and they wouldn't load they had a "so called" slow down but all of our Asian markets for Fujis went away. So we had some thinking to do.

Do you stay with the Fuji or try something different?

Carter:They've got new varieties of fuji's that made ours obsolete so we just went ahead and tore them out and regrafted to the Honeycrisps.

And Curtis is pretty pro-Honeycrisp.

Carter:Looks like Honeycrisp is going to be the best because they are sold stateside.

I know that in New Zealand they call Honeycrisp the champagne of Apples and they are building quite a European export market.

On a somber note. It seems virtually impossible it was just a couple weeks ago I was sitting down with Duane Wollmuth discussing his passion for Celebrate Cabernet today the industry is mourning his passing. , the 60-year-old executive director of the Walla Walla Wine Alliance who founded Three Rivers Winery died from a heart attack after a morning jog on Monday. His work with the Alliance brought national and international attention to the Walla Walla A legacy in the industry, he will be missed greatly.