Washington apple growers are continuing to see big volume of organic apples, with expected fresh output close to that of a year ago.
The Washington State Fruit Association forecasted that organic apple production will be 12.3% of the fresh market total, or 15.36 million boxes, about unchanged from the 2020 crop.
“Our organic supply continues to grow,” said Mac Riggan, director of marketing for Chelan Fresh, Chelan, Wash.
“Definitely the U.S. consumer is going to have a nice choice of organic apples, and every year, there is more and more of these new and modern varieties coming into production organically.”
In the calendar year 2020, domestic truck shipments of Washington organic apples totaled 15.43 million (40-pound) cartons, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That compares with 14.1 million cartons in 2019, 13.33 million cartons in 2018 and 11.39 million cartons in 2017, according to USDA figures.
About 20% to 25% of the Superfresh Growers crop is organic, depending on the variety, said Cat Gipe-Steward, communications manager for the Yakima-based firm.
Gipe-Stewart said one thing retailers can do to sell more apples is to expand organics.
During the pandemic of the past 18 months the industry has seen huge organic apple category growth, she said.
“Pre-pandemic, organics only represented 8% to 9% of the category,” Gipe-Stewart said. “It has maintained a 13% average share and continues increase in year over year growth.
“Superfresh Growers is especially focusing on organic gala, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Cosmic Crisp and Autumn Glory, though we do grow organics for all apple varieties,” she said.
George Harter, vice president of marketing for CMI Orchards LLC, Wenatchee, Wash., said the marketer has exclusive growing agreements that allows CMI to grow the majority of America’s top-selling specialty branded apples, most of which are also available organically.
“This truly sets our company apart as we are able to offer a ‘fourth tier’ of selling to retailers,” he said. “Assortment drives sales, and specialty branded organics deliver a way to trade shoppers up to higher-priced apples.”
Don Roper, vice president of sales and marketing for Honeybear Marketing LLC, said the company’s organic offerings account for about 17% of total apple sales.
“There is continued consistent demand for organics, and we keep pace with indexing our conventional production with organic production based on consumer adoption rates,” Roper said. “We feel we are in a very strong position as we have a year-round organic program of the key desired varieties.”
About 17% to 20% of Sage Fruit Co.’s volume of apples is expected to be organic, said
Chuck Sinks, president of sales and marketing for the Yakima-based company. “We have a good mix of popular organic varieties including gala, granny smith, fuji, Honeycrisp and Pink Lady,” he said.
“This season, we also look to have some organic Cosmic Crisp availability. We will see a considerable increase in our organic Honeycrisp availability this season,” he said.
About 30% of Stemilt Growers’ apple crop is grown and certified organic, said Brianna Shales, marketing director for the Wenatchee, Wash.-based firm.
“We’ve been growing apples organically since 1989 and market them as Artisan Organics today,” Shales said.
“We have a great crop ahead of us, with an emphasis on modern varieties like SweeTango, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, gala and fuji grown organically. We also will have our first organic Cosmic Crisp this year.”
