Washington Apples 23/24 Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. After a tough weather year in 2022 with only 104 million bushels, this year’s Washington apple crop came back strong with 139 million.
Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission, says it’s been a challenging few years, but sees no reason so far to expect problems next year …
FRYHOVER … “Yeah, I think 104 was an anomaly, Bob. You know, we had a lot of things that went the wrong direction for us. I think 2023 harvest, which is the crop we’re in right now, 23-24, it was a return to what our expectations are for a normal crop in Washington state.”
And normal, Fryhover says is a good thing …
FRYHOVER … “I wouldn’t say that 139 is something we could count on for next year, but it would be very unusual to go below 120. And something between 120 and 130 would be normal.”
The pandemic recovery, Fryhover says was a learning experience …
FRYHOVER … “Well, when you can’t touch the consumer, so to speak, by doing demos, then you have to be more creative on the digital platforms. And that actually turned out to be very good. I mean, we’re now good on the digital side whereas maybe if we didn’t ever have this conflict, and I’m not suggesting that COVID was a good thing, but it did make us think outside the box and try things differently and we’ve learned from that.”
In the meantime, Fryhover says …
FRYHOVER … “So, we are looking to be everybody’s supplier of Washington apples and we only ask one thing … please eat one more apple.”
Over 30% of the 2023-24 crop has been exported so far.
Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission.
