The Washington State (US) fresh apple crop is expected to be of a similar size to last season. This was despite a severe heat wave earlier this summer, according to the WSTFA forecast for 2021.
The forecast for 2021 is for a harvest of just under 125 million standard forty-pound boxes of fresh apples. This would be a 2.3% increase over the 2020 crop of 122 million boxes, but 7.2% less than the 2019 crop of 134.5 million boxes.
“The 2021 Washington State apple crop appears to be similar in size to last year’s crop. The growing seasons are never the same, and many WSTFA members are still evaluating the impact of this summer’s adverse and variable weather conditions today, “said Jon DeVaney, President of WSTFA.
“Members have done their best to incorporate these factors, but with the harvest just beginning and several months of unfamiliar weather ahead, further reductions in the size of the anticipated harvest are possible.”
“Despite these challenges, our growers anticipate meeting strong consumer demand with a large, high-quality harvest. This crop reflects the continuous growth of new varieties to delight all consumer tastes, combined with the high quality standards that national and international consumers expect ”.
For the third consecutive year, Gala will be the most numerous variety with 21%, Red Delicious is projected with 16%, followed by Honeycrisp and Granny Smith with 14% and Fuji with 13% of the total production. This year, Cosmic Crisp is forecast to reach 3% of the total crop, an increase of 114% over the 2020-21 crop, and Cripps Pink at 6%.
Organic apple production is expected to be 12.3% of the total, or 15.36 million boxes. This is virtually unchanged from the 15.6 million cases of the 2020 apple crop. Although it should be noted that not all organic production is typically packaged and marketed as ultimately organic.
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