Domestic Rockit apple program is growing

Supply building for the apple
While the domestic crop will be available until likely the beginning of May, that’s when the import program from New Zealand starts. “We’ve got a lot more production coming in on the horizon for the ROCKIT™ apple, both here for U.S. domestic production and also a healthy looking crop coming this Summer from New Zealand,” says Borton’s Sky Johnson. “The fruit is still pretty young hanging on the trees in New Zealand, but it’s looking like a record crop - a much larger crop than last year and the year before. So each year the overall world ROCKIT™ production is growing.”

Picking packaging options
Meanwhile Borton and Chelan are looking at ways to not only market this new and unique apple—currently selling in a clear recyclable plastic tube—but also how to package them to meet demand. “As apple farmers, we’ve always done things on tonnage, so commodity-based pricing. However with this particular product we’re starting to think more about consumer packaged goods and it’s a different model in our world,” says Johnson. We have to look at this variety as more of a value-added snack item as opposed to just another bulk apple variety. Instead, the two companies are developing marketing around the apple as a value-added snack item and determining what the market will pay for such packaging and the unique positioning.