Pennsylvania orchards are managing challenges from variable weather and shifting market conditions. The state produces between 400 million and 500 million pounds of apples each year, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, making it the fourth largest apple-producing state in the U.S.
Eric Voll, vice president at Soergel Orchards in Franklin Park, said weather remains the greatest concern. "The biggest thing that's out of our control is the weather. The drought we've had the past few growing seasons has had a real impact," he said.
Shanthanu Krishna Kumar, assistant professor of tree fruit science at Penn State University, also pointed to this year's variation. "On April 9 this year, we had a very cold weather event in Pennsylvania, and we also had a lot of rain in April and May, which made it hard for fruit tree growers even to plant. And now these past two months, we've barely had any rain. A lot of Western Pennsylvania fruit tree farms are rain-fed."
Market pressures are also influencing growers. Tariffs remain a factor after the 2019 U.S.-India trade dispute, which caused Washington state's apple exports to India to fall by 99%. Excess supply from Washington subsequently moved into eastern U.S. markets, putting pressure on prices for local growers.
Kumar said, "The biggest threat is the market pressures of pricing. That is what the apple industry has been battling for several years."
Pennsylvania ranks fifth nationally for apple exports, with Bermuda as the top destination, according to U.S. Apple. John Lott, president of Bear Mountain Orchards in Adams County, said his farm exports some apples to the Caribbean through brokers. "Washington state grows 15 times more apples than us, but for the Caribbean market, it's very hard to do 'just-in-time' fruit delivery from Washington. But we can ship from Baltimore, Delaware, or Miami and get containers to the Caribbean very quickly," he said.
Most of Bear Mountain's apples, grown on more than 1,000 acres, are sold domestically. Lott said Caribbean countries mainly source apples from Chile, but U.S. growers can fill supply gaps when those markets run short.
Analysts at U.S. Apple noted that while tariff-related issues remain unresolved, access to new export markets could be an opportunity, though retaliation from Canada or Mexico would pose risks. Those two countries account for around half of total U.S. fresh apple exports, valued at nearly US$500 million annually.
Source: TribLive
