The Washington State Tree Fruit Association (WSTFA) forecast for the 2020 Washington state fresh apple crop is 134 million standard 40-pound boxes of fresh apples, which is very close to 2019’s 133.9 million box crop.
“The 2020 Washington state apple crop looks to be similar in size to last year’s. Harvest is under way and growers anticipate being able to meet strong consumer demand with an ample and high-quality harvest,” WSTFA President Jon DeVaney said. “Our members are growing large crops but with more varieties to choose from and while continuing to raise the already high standards of quality that domestic and international consumers have come to expect.”
Consumers will have many varieties of Washington apples to choose from. For the second straight year, ‘Gala’ will be the top variety at 23%, ‘Red Delicious’ is projected at 17%, followed by ‘Fuji’ at 14%, ‘Granny Smith’ and ‘Honeycrisp’ at 13% of total production, and ‘Cripps Pink’ at 5%.
Perhaps the news with the most ramifications in the coming years concerned the state’s newest big variety, ‘Cosmic Crisp’, which was developed by Washington State University and cannot be grown in any other state. This year ‘Cosmic Crisp’ is forecast to come in at 1.2% of the total crop, but in five years is forecast at more than 20 million boxes.
Organic apple production is forecast to be 16% of the total, or 21 million boxes, up from 15 million boxes in the 2019 apple crop. Although it should be noted that typically not all organic production is ultimately packed and marketed as organic.
This forecast is based on a survey of WSTFA members and represents a best estimate of the total volume of apples that will eventually be packed and sold on the fresh market (excluding product sent to processor). Apple harvest typically begins this month and continues into November, and as a result this forecast is still subject to several months of variable weather which can affect the final harvest total.