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| How ya like them apples? |
We knew this year's
apple crop would be big and we're no strangers to big. A couple of years ago our
apple crop was massive: We hit a record 109.3 million 40-pound boxes, which had
a $7 billion economic impact on the state. So yeah, when growers realized in
August that this
year's harvest might come close to the 2010 record despite hail damage in
July, they said bring it on!
Except, after last
year's farm labor shortage, which forced many to leave fruit on the trees,
growers were afraid there
might once again not be enough workers to pick the expected 4.3 billion (108
million 40-lb boxes) apples.
But wait, there's
more.
In early November,
the apple crop estimate for 2012 went up to 121.5 million boxes, clearly
beating the previous record. That was huge news and a new milestone for the
industry.
But wait, there's
more.
This week, even
Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission in Wenatchee, was
taken aback when he learned the
latest
estimate for this year's apple crop is 129.7 million boxes!
That's an increase of 20.4 million boxes and 18.6
percent from the industry's prior record.
If anything should get credit for this jump in the
last month, that would be the weather. According to Dan Kelly, assistant manager
of Washington Growers Clearing House Association, thanks to good weather there
were more picking days, which meant more fruit could be harvested even with a
shortage of pickers. He explained that fruit passed over early was picked later
allowing it to grow larger in size, which also contributed to
a more bountiful crop.
Read this story in Spanish here.
Read this story in Spanish here.
