Tighter supplies of Washington apples brings pricing back in line
Supplies of Washington apples are slimmer than usual.
“Right now, the overall crop is 15-20 percent off from what we estimated last year, so supplies are certainly tight across the board,” says Dan Davis of Starr Ranch Growers in Wenatchee, WA. He notes conventional supplies are tighter than their organic counterparts given Starr Ranch had an increase in its organic volume. “Conventionally, especially on a lot of the later harvests such as Fujis, we’re significantly off in volume.”
Meanwhile on Starr Ranch’s club varieties such as Juici and KORU, it’s had continued growth with these varieties. “It’s been an interesting and trying season for proprietary varieties. Places where the variety was established before, we’re servicing it and it’s going very well. But in this era of COVID-19, it’s difficult to get partners to jump on board and try new things,” says Davis.