State could see third-largest apple crop

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Put a larger-than-normal asterisk after the number of boxes of apples growers are expected to harvest for fresh sale this fall.

In addition to the normal uncertainties of harvest weather, the crop's late start is complicating the task of estimating production.

"The number is even fuzzier than it normally is," Jon DeVaney, executive director of the Yakima Valley Growers-Shippers Association, said Tuesday.

The Yakima-based group and its sister organization in Wenatchee, the Wenatchee Valley Traffic Association, annually prepare the Aug. 1 crop estimate. This year their figures suggest the industry will ship more than 106 million boxes.

Should that admittedly squishy number pan out, the 2011 harvest will fall short of the 2010 crop that will end up being a record at about 109 million boxes.

The 2011 crop would still be the third largest in the industry's history. Growers sold 108 million boxes in the 2008-09 marketing season.

"A lot of our members are saying much will depend on (fruit) size and that depends on if the good weather we are having will continue," DeVaney said.

The recent trend of warm days and cool nights is good for growing the fruit and giving it color.

The industry should know more in about two weeks, when growers from across the country gather in Chicago for the U.S. Apple Association crop outlook conference.

Washington growers benefited this marketing season from good demand because crops in competing states suffered losses from frost.

Kirk Mayer, manager of the Washington Growers Clearing House in Wenatchee, said the late spring should give the industry time to clean out all the fruit remaining from the 2010 crop.

"We have a very manageable crop this year. We are coming off a successful year and the stage is set for another good marketing season," he said.

The clearing house tracks sales and pricing for its membership.

DeVaney said production of Red Delicious and Gala variety apples is about the same as last year. The increasingly popular Honeycrisp will see higher production, while volumes of other varieties are down.

* David Lester can be reached at 509-577-7674 or dlester @yakimaherald.com.