Record Apple Crop Expected

At one point earlier in the year the number 150-million was bounced around in the Washington apple industry. Now that number has been revised to a bit more manageable 141-million but that still makes it a whopper. Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission talks about the largest crop on record.

FRYHOVER: The 2012 apple crop was the largest to date and it was just slightly over 128-million bushels so we're up somewhere around 11, 11.5 million cartons more than our previous high.

Some would say that it would be difficult to move an extremely large crop like this potential record crop but Fryhover says there is great potential here.

FRYHOVER: There is a lot of export demand out there, there's no question. There's over 60 countries that take our products. As we move out of Russia we'll move more into some of our traditional markets. Mexico will play a critical role, Canada of course. India is just a fascinating market that could take up to four million cartons as it has in the past. There's discussions about full varietal access into China that are going on right now so there's a lot of opportunities out there.

Of course as we get ready for harvest and there are some apples being harvested as we speak, there is always concern over selling what is left of last years crop. Not an issue according to Fryhover.

FRYHOVER: Somewhere around 8 to 9 million cartons. It depends on the exact timing. It is completely in line of where we need to be. We should have a very nice transition from the 2013 to the 2014 crop.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.