YAKIMA — The 2022 apple season began with April snowfall and colder than normal temperatures. Its ending included a long stretch of warm and dry fall weather.
The result is a Yakima Valley apple crop that will be harvested later and fall short of recent years’ fresh apple harvests, local growers and statewide agriculture officials say.
“These (Cosmic Crisps) could be a little better in terms of color,” Andy Judd said Thursday as he walked through his orchard at the foot of Naches Heights. “The weather’s been cold in the spring, warm in the fall. … It’s not a normal year.”
Besides causing pollination problems, the cold spring weather delayed the growth and harvests for nearly all Yakima Valley fruit crops. Apples were no exception, with many growers telling the Yakima Herald-Republic harvest started at least two weeks late this fall.
Gabe Tyrrell, field representative for Cowiche Growers, said this is his fourth apple harvest working for the grower-owned cooperative based in the Upper Valley. He noted the above-normal temperatures throughout September and much of October prevented varieties such as Cosmic Crisp and Red Delicious from attaining a red color that some customers prefer.
“(Harvest delays) are pretty much all weather-related,” Tyrrell said. “A cool spring stretched out the growing days fruit needs to develop.
“And in the fall, we need cool nights to help with coloring the apples,” he added. “It’s been good weather for picking, but not good for fruit development.”
Harvest may be lower
The Washington State Tree Fruit Association released its 2022 fresh apple crop forecast in mid-August, predicting 108.7 million standard 40-pound boxes will be harvested statewide for the fresh apple market, an 11.1 percent decrease from 2021’s crop of 122.3 million boxes.
Jon DeVaney, the organization’s president, said Monday reports on early-harvested varieties such as Golden Delicious, Gala and Honeycrisp indicate the harvest may fall short of the August prediction.
The organization wasn’t able to put out a fully updated forecast, but had enough information Oct. 1 to update estimates from members about the harvest of early varieties.
“Our Oct. 1 report showed a reduction of just under 3 million (boxes), primarily as a result of some Honeycrisp being diverted to processor use instead of going to the fresh market,” he added. “Based on these early indications, the industry generally expects the 2022 fresh apple crop to come in a bit lower than the August estimate.”
DeVaney also said this year’s crop has “proven exceptionally difficult to estimate” due to the uneven crop load and maturity caused by the cool spring weather, two-week delay in crop development and uncertainly about how the remaining fruit on the trees will develop as the weather cools in late October.
Remain popular
Among the 65 to 75 small orchards involved with the Cowiche Growers co-op, the Cosmic Crisp harvest was going well, Tyrrell said.
“The shining star seems to be the Cosmic Crisps,” Tyrrell said as he walked among blocks of the popular variety at Judd’s orchard. “All other varieties have picked under our estimates, but the Cosmics are a bright spot.”
In its August harvest forecast, the WSTFA estimated Cosmic Crisp, a proprietary variety grown only in Washington state, will make up 4.6 percent of the 2022 harvest, up from 3.2 percent last year.
The five most popular apple varieties continue to make up almost three-quarters of the harvest: Gala (20 percent of the state’s projected crop), Red Delicious and Honeycrisp (14 percent each), Granny Smith (13.4 percent) and Fuji (12.7 percent).
Cowiche Growers already has harvested its Honeycrisp and Golden Delicious varieties, and waited as long as possible to begin picking Red Delicious and Cosmic Crisps so they could develop more color, Tyrell said.
A newer variety, Evercrisp, will be picked last at the Judd orchards, which total about 250 acres planted in apples. Judd said another positive of this harvest has been finding quality workers.
“We’ll (harvest) through the first week of November,” Judd said. “For the most part we’ve had really good help. This crew has about 30 people working a 35-acre farm.”
After the harvest, fruit packing companies have an interesting decision to make, Tyrrell said. Inflation has doubled apple growers’ costs in areas such as fertilizers and fuel, while the prices of apples in grocery stores have increased at a much slower rate.
So the question is how much of the 2022 apple crop will go into cold storage.
“As much as we can, especially this year, knowing the crop is short, so you have something to pack later in the season,” Tyrrell said. “At the same time, we also need fruit right now.
“During short years, growers are hopeful that with demand still high, prices will go up since there’s less fruit available,” he added.
