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Apple crop coming in smaller than expected

An economist with USApples says production this year could be lower than previously forecast.

 Chris Gerlach tells Brownfield in August he projected the nation’s apple crop to be down about 10 percent from last year.

“It could be that these trees have reached a stress point to the point where they’re going to take a year off a little bit, or it could be a labor thing during the spring thinning,” he says. “Perhaps the apples weren’t thinned properly. Obviously weather plays a role.”

He says the reduced supply isn’t necessarily a bad thing after last year’s record crop.

“In the year we’re coming off of, that was perhaps a record, with Honeycrisp prices down 55 percent, that was below the cost of production for some of these growers,” he shares. “They had to work all year long for the privilege of growing these apples at a loss. And that is heartbreaking and frankly unsustainable. We need to figure out the labor situation.”

Gerlach had estimated the 2024 crop at nearly 260 million bushels at the end of August with Gala, Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, and Fuji expected to be the top varieties harvested. 

AUDIO:  Chris Gerlach, USApples