Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers is expanding Juici sales

Wenatchee, Wash.-based Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers is expanding sales and distribution of the proprietary Juici apple variety, said Dan Davis, director of business development for Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers, Wenatchee, Wash.

“We’ve got a lot going on with Juici this season,” Davis said. “Last year was a plateau in terms of supply and this year, the supply catches up to demand.”

Davis said Starr Ranch Growers has enough added volume to expand the variety’s retail base and have it slotted with additional retailers to spread that variety into all markets. 

The marketer will be highlighting the variety on social media and doing sampling of the apple at stores, he said.

“For us, Juici has been a great success and proves to provide something unique to the market,” Davis said.

Another proprietary variety on the rise, called Karma, will be offered in limited volume with some Northwest retailers, Davis said.

Lighter harvest 

Washington’s cold spring put apple harvest on a later trajectory this year, and Davis said harvest has been 10 days to 2 weeks later than previous seasons though early September.

Yields have been off, too.

“We’re seeing less fruit on the trees than would be anticipated, and what’s there looks like it will peak smaller than last season,” Davis said. 

Fruit sizes, as of early September, appeared to be down about one size from last year’s peak. Galas were trending heavily toward 100s.

“With other varieties, it should be less of an impact, and fruit will still peak somewhere within the desired retail sizing, but we may have some work to do on gala with a limited supply of large fruit,” Davis said. 

Going the distance

Starr Ranch Growers will be able to offer apples year-round with core varieties such as gala, fuji, granny smith and Pink Lady.

“We’re one of the largest growers of Honeycrisp in the Northwest and have had year-round supply for five years,” Davis said. “With it being the largest-[variety] acreage we grow, we’ll be poised to service the market the full year again.”

Starr Ranch Growers will see similar organic apple volume to last year, Davis said. 

“This season, our organic volume is about the same as last year, less of a dip than we may see conventionally,” he said. “We continue to move that tonnage more to the in-demand varieties of Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, granny smith, fuji and gala,” he said “Gala have become the hardware of an organic offering. Size may be an issue in some spots, but bag demand organically has been very brisk, and that should more than compensate.”

Davis said the marketer will complement its Washington organic supply with import partners in South America, and fill what gaps are evident for organic fruit evident next summer.