The Washington Apple Education Foundation held its annual meeting to elect and recognize officers and board members.
Laurie Knebusch was elected chairman of WAEF, replacing outgoing chairman Chris Willett. Knebusch was elected to the board of directors in 2017. At that time, she was the general manager at Cowiche Growers. She has served in an officer capacity at WAEF for the last two years.
Tasting guide helps consumers navigate apple flavors
CMI Orchards has released a new program, Flavogram®, to help consumers compare apples to apples.
Flavogram® is a tasting guide describing the flavor of each apple from first bite to the lasting impression on your taste buds. A color-coded system provides visual clues that help describe the flavor experience for each apple variety in an easy-to-navigate chart.
“While taste testing new and undiscovered varieties from around the globe as part of our ongoing research to bring new varieties to market, consumers confirmed our belief that the complexity of apple flavors extends much deeper than just how sweet or tart an apple tastes,” said Bob Mast, CMI president. In a conversation with Mike Wade, one of CMI’s owners and accomplished winemaker, he explained the wine industry’s approach to describing flavors. The CMI team was inspired to develop the way consumers look at the complexity of apple flavors.
Ambrosia apples seeing strong US sales
CMI Orchards has announced that Ambrosia apples are dominating sales in the Southern Region, with strong sales reported throughout the rest of the United States.
Ambrosia apples held the second-highest position in the Midwest region, third in the Northwest and fifth in the Western region.
According to Nielsen Answers on Demand, over the past 52 weeks of data through January 2, 2021, Ambrosia held the top sales position in the Southern region, accounting for 24.7% of all branded apple sales. This represents a growth of 4.3% for the apple. The Southern region includes Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Virginia, and Kentucky.
CMI Orchards, its growers and partners have tapped into current consumer trends to build its business.
“Our shared expertise and emphasis on data analysis helped us identify consumer and retail trends, then position our efforts to maximize those opportunities,” explained Bob Mast, president of CMI Orchards.
Here are some trends CMI highlighted:
Online shopping: “We were focusing on ways to support retailers recognizing that a large portion of shoppers were already migrating to online purchasing versus in-store. When COVID-19 hit last spring, we were positioned to pivot to the changes in consumer shopping habits,” explained Rochelle Bohm, brand manager for CMI Orchards.
How technology helps to propel growth
The umbrella of CMI Orchards’ owners and partners are using cutting-edge technology from the orchard to packing facilities.
“A big focus at CMI Orchards is to strategically forecast marketplace dynamics 10 years from now. This helps us understand how technology can be used to help our growers produce fruit in the most efficient manner to meet anticipated consumer demands,” explained Bob Mast, president of CMI Orchards.
One example of this is the software used in orchards to monitor soil moisture levels at different elevations. “This digital monitoring provides real-time data on temperature, soil moisture and wind speed to my phone. This helps maintain proper fruit size and reduces disease and waste in our organic blocks,” explained Mike Robinson, co-owner of Double Diamond Fruit.