Organic Apple Boom

The organic apple industry in Washington state is booming ... and industry experts believe it will continue.

Washington Tree Fruit Association president Jon DeVaney says nearly 10% of the overall apple crop in our state is certified organic and that's not really a surprise ...

"Organic production has been on a steady upward trend for apples and other tree fruits in Washington state for many years. Washington state is one of the best places we know to grow apples, it's also one of the best places to grow organic fruit. We produce more than 60% of the fresh apples consumed in the United States and produced in the United States, but we have about three-quarters of the organic apple production by acreage in the united states." 26 seconds

And, Devaney says organic production continues to gain ground ...

"You know, in 2015 we had about, just over 14,000 acres of already certified organic apple acreage with another 33-hundred acres already in transition. It takes three years to have an orchard or farm certified for organic production. So, there's a lot of additional acreage and production in the apple pipeline for organic fruit." 22 seconds

Besides the nearly 10,000 acre gain in organic apple production over the past 16 years, yield of Gala organics is up from 39 bins per acre a few years ago, to more recently 60-to-70 bins.