Gala, Honeycrisp, fuji volumes continue to climb

The venerable red delicious, longtime king of the U.S. apple industry, continues its production decline in Michigan and most other growing areas.

But is there another variety that can reign as it once did?

"Reds are on the decline in a major way, but I don't see any one thing replacing reds by volume, and that's a real challenge for our guys," said Chris Sandwick, vice president of sales and marketing for BelleHarvest Sales Inc., Belding, Mich.

In place of "any one thing" to meet that challenge, Sandwick said, there are three things.

"We're seeing pretty significant increases on galas, fujis and Honeycrisps," he said. "Reds were the backbone. The three-pronged approach of galas, fujis and Honeycrisps is replacing that backbone."

Helping that effort this season will be BelleHarvest's ability to ship Honeycrisps deeper into the season, Sandwick said.

"We're working on developing our (controlled atmosphere) program," he said. "Last year we shipped Honeycrisps into February. This year we'll ship into March and April."

There's more room in BelleHarvest's CA rooms for Honeycrisp, Sandwick said, as demand for jonathans, empires and other varieties decreases.

Red delicious isn't the only apple taking a smaller piece of the pie in Michigan.

"There are still customers for them, but there are fewer and fewer every year."

Don Armock, president of Riveridge Produce Marketing Inc., Sparta, Mich., said his company also is growing more galas, fujis and Honeycrisps and fewer reds, though red volumes won't be down substantially for Riveridge this season.

Damon Glei, president and owner of Glei's Inc., Hillsdale, Mich., said his company will likely ship more galas than ever this season.

"There are a lot of young gala trees," he said. "They're constantly increasing. This will probably be our biggest gala year ever."

In 2015 Glei's produced its biggest-ever Honeycrisp crop. This year's crop may not be quite as big, but the company will still have abundant supplies of the variety.

Glei's fuji crop also could be a bit lighter than last year's crop, Glei said.

As for other varieties, the story is one of decline, he said.

"Most everything else is decreasing," Glei said.

Diane Smith, executive director of the Lansing-based Michigan Apple Committee, said it's not just a question of volumes shipping this year, but also what the varietal trends are based on what Michigan growers are putting in the ground.

"Reds are definitely on the downswing, especially plantings," she said. "And galas, Honeycrisp and fuji numbers are increasing, and especially in plantings."

Tom Labbe, sales manager/domestic accounts for Jack Brown Produce, Sparta, Mich.. said his company expects continued increases in gala, mcintosh, Honeycrisp and fuji volumes this year.

But the company will have plenty of all of its other varieties, too, and the overall mix won't be drastically different from last year.

"We ship 17, 18 varieties - enough to cover everyone's wishes."