ADJUSTED APPLE CROP
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Estimates for this year's Washington apple crop were already impressive, but as the harvest draws to a close, those earlier numbers appear to be just a little bit low ...
TIM KOVIS ... "We recently surveyed our members of what they are seeing with harvest progressing, and we found that our initial estimate in August of 132.9 million 40-pound boxes actually needed to be adjusted about 3.4% to a little over 137 million so we're able to pack more fruit it looks like."
Tim Kovis with the Washington State Tree Fruit Association says before the adjusted numbers, this year's crop was already on pace to be the second largest in state history ...
TIM KOVIS ... "You know, our record was during the 2014 – 2015 crop at a 142 million boxes and we're much higher than last year's crop which was about 115 million boxes. So, growers and packers are excited about the quality of the fruit and the storability and consumers of apples will have great apples throughout the year to enjoy."
Kovis says these numbers include only those apples going to the fresh market and not the apples that will be sent to processors for things like apple sauce, apple juice, or any other apple products.
He says growers and packers are all very excited and the market is looking pretty solid so consumers should be able to enjoy their favorite apples all year long.
