Apple Forecast 2019 Pt 2

Apple Forecast 2019 Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. The latest numbers for the 2019 Washington apple crop are in and look to be 18% higher than last year at 137.3-million boxes of fresh apples.

Washington State Tree Fruit Association's Tim Kovis says one significant change this year could be in the "most produced apple" after the Gala fell just short of overtaking Red Delicious ...

KOVIS ... "However, in this crop our members are estimating again that they believe Gala's will be about 23% of production and Red's are going to be about 20%. So, they still see that there's more Gala production out there than Reds. However, we still have harvest to get through with the weather and pack-outs will determine throughout the year what the final crop numbers will look like."

And, when asked about this year's highly anticipated Cosmic Crisp, Kovis was low key ...

KOVIS ... "You know, we're seeing increased production as those trees grow and age. You know, it takes anywhere from 3 to 5 years for apples trees to start really producing volume of fruit. So, it was a little difficult to project how many boxes of Comics' we're going to be produced because we rely on historical crop numbers to estimate what the new crops going to look like, but I'm hearing estimates of somewhere between 400-thousand boxes to half-a-million boxes of Comics'."

Kovis says you may have to look around for the Cosmic Crisp ...

KOVIS ... "It still might be a little difficult to find them in all grocery stores, more likely next year and the following year they'll be more widely available."

Listen tomorrow for more on this year's organic apple production.

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