(The Center Square) – A robust, high-quality harvest is forecast this year for Washington state’s apple growers.
“There is a lot of excitement as we are seeing a more normal harvest and excellent fruit quality this year,” said Jon DeVaney, president of the Washington State Tree Fruit Association, in a news release Tuesday.
“A moderate spring and a warm early summer created near-perfect growing conditions, so our domestic and foreign customers are going to see great size, color, and overall good quality in our apples,” DeVaney predicted.
Washington apples are the state’s leading agricultural commodity by production value – in 2021, they represented 21% of the state’s overall agricultural value – and a significant contributor to the state’s economy. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, fresh market apples in Washington were valued at $1.98 billion in 2022, and over $4.91 billion when including utilized and processed apples.
Although harvest is just beginning and will continue through fall, this year’s overall crop is estimated at just over 134 million standard 40-pound boxes of fresh apples. If realized, that’s a 28.8% increase over 2022’s harvest of 104.3 million boxes, according to the WSTFA.
Last year, a long cold spring with snow inhibited pollination during bloom, stifling production. But this year, moderate weather has helped growers deliver a healthy crop that is expected to be 5% over the previous six-year production average.
“This return to historic norms is also seen in growers’ reports of good size distribution and expected high quality across all varietals,” the association said.
On a five-year average, Washington has exported 28% of its annual harvest, but that number dipped to only 20% in 2022 due to lower overall production.
“It’s great for the state and for consumers around that world that our growers have rebounded from a down year with a strong, healthy crop in 2023,” said Washington State Department of Agriculture Director Derek Sandison. “More importantly, thanks to moderate weather, the quality of apples is exceptionally high. Apples are Washington state’s calling card to every corner of the globe. This year, we are literally putting our best crop forward and that’s good for our state economy, our workforce, and our growers.”
The latest forecast also illustrates a continuing trend of varietal diversification, including Honeycrisp, Ambrosia, Envy and Cosmic Crisp apples, with those four representing more than 25% of forecast production.
By the numbers, Gala represents the largest share of the harvest at 19.8%. Red Delicious is projected at 13%, followed by Honeycrisp at 14.6%, Granny Smith at 13.8%, and Fuji at 11.7% of total production. Cosmic Crisp, a proprietary varietal grown only in Washington, continues to increase its share of the total crop with 5.9% of the harvest.
“This reflects the ongoing diversification of the state’s apple production to serve a diverse and growing customer base,” the association said.
That includes the market for organic apples: Washington leads the nation in production and the market continues to grow. This year, the forecast is for 21 million boxes, or 15.7% of the total harvest.
The WSTFA did note that not all organic production is packed and marketed as organic. Nonetheless, DeVaney said its member growers are “always working on new strategies and techniques to deliver fresh, healthy apples. [They] have a long tradition of meeting consumer demand and they are proving it again by producing more 93 percent of the country’s organic apple output.”
The recent harvest forecast is based on a survey of WSTFA members and represents an estimate of the total volume of apples that will eventually be packed and sold on the fresh market, excluding product sent to processors). Apple harvest typically begins in August and continues into November, with a final total still subject to several months of variable weather.
