Apple production from Washington is down this year.
“Washington State seems to be down 25 percent from last year. It’s probably some winter injury from earlier but it can linger. You never really know,” says Eric Strandberg of Strandberg Farms in Omak, Wa. “We were scheduled to have a bigger year this year but it didn’t materialize. Trees like to go into bi-annual bearing but even years are usually big.”
Strandberg notes that Granny Smith apples are particularly low. “Honey Crisp came up just because of the volume of planting,” he adds.
Regional production
At the same time, other U.S. growing regions seem to be on balance. “Michigan and Pennsylvania had a decent crop so they’re not coming in as early as they have before,” he says. “But Washington crop is all based on fresh pack. It’s not growing for processors. So everything we do is geared towards the supermarket fresh eating apples.”
From a demand perspective, it remains high and steady for apples. “Our varieties now have settled out to Gala, Fuji, Pink Lady and Granny Smith,” says Strandberg. “There’s still some demand for Red Delicious but Galas have overtaken that now. That’s a good thing. We’ve got a strong base of apples that people want to repurchase again and again. We’ve moved away from easy-to-pack Red Delicious and gotten into more of a customer-demand apple.”
Pricing down somewhat
Still, even with good demand, Strandberg estimates prices are down some five to 10 percent compared to last year. “Pricing on organics has been good and pricing on conventional has been average. Not high,” he says.
He thinks though with the lower numbers this year on volume, that pricing may change. “The crop should be demanding higher prices than what it is. I think prices will come up,” Strandberg says. “When the buyers see that this crop is as short as it is, I imagine prices will come up.”
Meanwhile, he adds that apple growers continue to contend with issues of growing magnitude—such as labor. “The biggest challenge in the past five years has been labor to harvest and to thin,” he says. “The trees all have to be pretty much thinned by hand in May and June to get the right size. So labor is an issue and it’s more pronounced every year.”
