Page 6 — The Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle
Agriculture 2016
2015 brought strong prices, good quality apple crop By Dee Camp The Chronicle WENATCHEE — The 2015 apple crop is selling very well, with strong prices and good quality fruit. Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission, said that’s a welcome scenario after the frenzy of last year’s record 142 million-box crop. This year’s crop is “a more manageable size,� at 117.139 million boxes, he said. Fryhover Smoke from last summer’s fires and the statewide drought didn’t affect the crop as a whole, although some localized areas may have seen some impacts. More of a concern was heat, with June and August suffering sweltering temperatures in the state’s apple-growing regions. “We don’t know how (the fruit) will survive in storage,� he said. “There’s a lot of variety and a lot of factors.�
“With the Department of drought and heat Agriculture conditions this Market News. year, overall Galas were in the quality depended $30-34.90 range, on orchard Cripps Pink $32location and water 36.90, Fuji $28supplies,� said Jon $30.90, Granny DeVaney, Smith $20-24.90 president of the and Golden Washington State Delicious $26Tree Fruit $28.90. Association. The number “These 88 refers to the problems most number of apples resulted in a that can be smaller overall packed in a crop than had standard-sized been forecast box. earlier in 2015 as About 97 impaired fruit was percent of the not picked or is Washington’s being sorted out in apples leave the packing, so that state, either for the product domestic or reaching Washington Apple Commission foreign markets, consumers Fryhover said. continues to be of Apples wait to be picked According to high quality,� he U.S. Department said. “This is reflected in apple around $24 per 40-pound box, of Agriculture’s Specialty Crops pricing, which is higher than this with the overall price for Red Market News, f.o.b. prices as of same time last year when Delicious at $18-$19 and Gala at Jan. 27 were $36-$38.90 for U.S. marketers were trying to move a $23. No. 1 size 70 Bartletts and $26Prices for size 88 extra-fancy $30.90 for d’Anjou. record apple crop during the port grade ranged from $16-$20.90 for strike/slowdowns.� The Northwest cherry crop of to $80-$85.90 for 18.5 million boxes was smaller than Earlier this month, the average Reds price of all apple varieties was Honeycrisp, according to the U.S. the 21.6 million boxes shipped in
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2014 but larger than the 2013 crop of 13.4 million boxes, DeVaney said. “The pricing reflected a crop that was near average for the threeyear period, averaging $2.09 per pound for dark sweets and $3.37 for Rainiers. Fryhover said the Washington Apple Commission’s primary task is to promote Washington apples internationally, so the growersupported state agency’s 12 consultants are busy running 26 independent promotion programs in 26 countries. The 2015 crop is “doing fantastic on sales,� he said. “They’re selling very, very well.
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