Apple Estimate Update Pt 1
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. The late harvest numbers are out for Washington’s apple crop and, while not a total surprise, it will be a bit smaller than the early season forecast.Washington State Tree Fruit Association President Jon DeVaney …
DeVANEY … “What we saw that was the forecast at the start of the harvest season in early August was for 124.85 million boxes, so just about 125. And that’s gone down by a little over 5%, 5.3%, to 118.255 million boxes.”
DeVaney says many factors played a roll in the lower numbers, but weather timing was certainly a big part of it …
DeVANEY … “That’s largely due to effects of the very high heat we had early in the picking season mid to late summer. Some of those early harvested varieties like Honeycrisp and Gala, in particular, saw some larger decreases and that’s a result of some fruit not coloring up correctly or having some heat damage that couldn’t be fully assessed at the time of the August estimate.”
DeVaney says apple harvest is still wrapping up for some late varieties, but these numbers should be pretty accurate …
DeVANEY … “We ask our members to estimate what they believe they’ll actually pack and ship. And so, this is an estimate of what’s going to be hitting the fresh market.”
DeVaney says about right around 20% of the crop goes to the processed market.
Tune in tomorrow for more on this year’s Washington apple crop estimates.