There are slightly larger apples expected from the upcoming Western New York crop. "We've had extremely timely rains and wonderful heat but not heat that's stressing things. It's almost textbook growing conditions," says United Apple Sales' Brett Baker, who adds that the fruit is expected to be up 1-1.5 sizes up over last year.
In varietals, there will be approximately 30 percent more Honeycrisp from United Apple's orchards while Galas and Fujis are similar to last year or somewhat down. Macintosh will also have a good supply this season.
As for harvest, it should start about a week early–around September 1–which isn't surprising given the whole year has been early. "We were early with blossom and early with the trees coming on with hibernation. It was also a very mild winter with minimal ice in the Great Lakes so we'll start early and we'll also likely finish early–hopefully between November 1-5," says Baker.
Finding homes for apples
This means that the region will have more apples than last year available. "What I'm not certain about is if there will be homes for all the apples because processing customers are cutting back. It sounds like they are over capacity going into the new crop," says Baker. "So certain varieties such as Empire, Golden Delicious, Cortland, Rome, Ida Red, and Jonagold, I don't know if the growers will pick them without a home."
In domestic retail demand, Baker believes it's good, noting there is carryover going into the 2024-2025 crop. "We're forecasting that pricing will be challenging to start the season but we're hoping as last year's crop cleans up and the early fruit that has to go quickly cleans up that towards Thanksgiving, pricing will strengthen," he says.
While domestic demand is good, export markets for apples are challenging. Historically, with a plentiful crop such as the 2023-2024 crop, there have been lots of opportunities to export that fruit. "We do still have opportunities but the return on export fruit is not what it was," says Baker. "Export markets seem to have a level they want to pay for delivery for apples from the U.S. and that doesn't seem to change much–even though our labor rates are going up, our overhead is increasing, etc. Where it used to make sense to export the apples, there are fewer and fewer markets available that reward the grower for their work and effort. We need to find homes with sustainable returns for our fruit."
For more information:
Brett Baker
United Apple Sales
Tel: +1 (585) 765-2460 ext. 116
[email protected]
https://unitedapplesales.com/