Washington state’s organic apple acreage has shown a steady increase in recent years. “About 40 percent of our apples are grown organically,” says Blake Belknap with Rainier Fruit. The company offers a full menu of organic apples with supplies available through summer on Galas, Fujis, Pink Ladies, Honey Crisp, and Granny Smith. “This is the 5th consecutive season we offer year-round availability of Washington organic apples,” Belknap added.
In general, the company continues to see the trend of customers trading up from conventional apple varieties to their organic counterparts. “We are seeing healthy demand for organic apples, which holds true for all core organic varieties. However, organic Honeycrisp, organic Fuji, and organic Gala have shown the largest impact to the organic category and are some of our organic staples.”
Envy
On the conventional side, Envy has shown tremendous growth at retail over the last few years. “This season, organic Envy is showing a similar growth trend. With more volume available on organic Envy, we see that variety being a great option to grow the category, now that Washington has a shorter overall apple crop.” Lower supplies of traditional varieties will elevate a growing variety like organic Envy that is seeing strong quality this season in addition to increased volume.
For more information:
Blake Belknap
Rainier Fruit
Email: blakeb@rainierfruit.com
www.rainierfruit.com