For the fifth straight year, Selah, Wash.-based Rainier Fruit Co. has plans to take core organic varieties year-round.
Organic gala, organic fuji, organic Honeycrisp and organic granny smith apples will be supplied by Rainier Fruit all summer long, according to a news release.
“It’s a testament to the hard work that starts in the field,” Rainier Fruit President Mark Zirkle said in the release. “Decades of farming experience and planting the right varieties in the right growing region has been a recipe for success.”
While the overall Washington state crop is down from last year, Rainier Fruit’s diversity in growing locations mitigated some of the weather events from last spring, according to the release.
“We grow fruit from the northernmost part of the state down to the Oregon border,” Zirkle said in the release. “This spread protects our fruit from isolated weather events and creates opportunities for late storage of apples.”
Summertime for retailers is focused heavily on the soft fruit categories, like berries and cherries, but apple shoppers have not left the store and are among the most loyal shoppers with high repeat purchase rates, he said in the release.
“Apple shoppers continue to look for the consistency that the fruit provides in the summer months,” Zirkle said in the release. “It’s important to continue to provide them with [a] Washington-grown organic apple supply that they have grown accustomed to all year.”
