At tens of thousands of dollars per acre, starting a new fruit variety can be a daunting decision, but not for Rich Callahan. The Royal City, Washington, orchardist takes the simple view: “It’s easy. If I go to the warehouse and I’m not getting paid, it’s a real easy choice.”
Over the past several years, Callahan has replaced traditional varieties such as Fujis, standard Galas, Braeburns and Reds with hot-selling newcomers such as Honeycrisp and Wildfire Gala, an early ripening, Corvette-red strain he found as a chance mutation about 10 years ago.
He’s right, said other growers and some packers. Orchardists must figure out what’s selling when deciding which varieties to grow and when to switch. But that’s not the only consideration.
“There’s so many factors that come into play,” said Steve Lutz, senior strategist for Columbia Marketing International of Wenatchee, Washington.
The laundry list of decision points includes the market for variety they might remove, their current variety mix, how the new variety fits in the marketing plan of their warehouses, the microclimate of their site and their financial ability to afford risk.
They also must realize that even high-demand apples have growing quirks. For example, the hot-selling club variety Ambrosia, the patent of which expires this month, has a very tight harvest window. “As we look at Ambrosia opening up, that’s what worries me,” Lutz said.
Columbia Marketing, or CMI, markets the Ambrosia apple for McDougall & Sons, a Wenatchee-based grower and packer.
The decision can be an expensive one. Growers typically estimate the cost of starting a new orchard at $15,000 to $30,000 per acre. Scott McDougall, president of McDougall & Sons, puts it more like $60,000, including two years of pre-production costs, labor housing expenses and property purchases.
“At 80 bins per acre, you better be thinking you’re going to return $300 per bin from the warehouse” with a new variety, McDougall said. Typically, well-grown Fujis, Galas and Granny Smiths fetch more like $200 per bin. He also advised growers to make sure they can handle the variety they choose.
