Growth continues in organic fruit category

The organic fruit category, including items like apples, pears, berries and avocados, continues to gather steam as consumers choose healthy eating options.

This year’s Washington organic apple crop is down because of a cold spring bloom period and other weather events, said Brianna Shales, marketing director for Wenatchee, Wash.-based Stemilt Growers LLC. But Stemilt has added volume of the popular Cosmic Crisp and fuji varieties.

“These are the best two items for organic promotion as we head into the late winter and spring months,” she said.

Organic anjou and red anjou pears are in season now through early spring and are also promotion worthy, she said.

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The focus now is on apples and pears at Sage Fruit Co. LLC, Yakima, Wash., but the company already is planning for the upcoming cherry season, said Chuck Sinks, president of sales and marketing.

Promotable apple varieties include granny smith, gala, fuji, Pink Lady, Honeycrisp and Cosmic Crisp apples and anjou and bosc pears, he said.

“Our most sought-out organic item by retailers is Honeycrisp, but organic gala and fuji don’t fall too far behind,” Sinks said.

Despite an industrywide drop in apple volume, Sinks said Sage Fruit will have increased volume as a result of a partnership formed last year with Chelan, Wash.-based Chelan Fruit.

Wenatchee-based CMI Orchards LLC, which markets the Daisy Girl Organics brand, has a large selection of core and high-flavor/branded organic apples, said Danelle Huber, senior marketing manager.

“This makes it the perfect year for retailers to display newer varieties and allow their shoppers the opportunity to trade up to some of the newer, readily available branded/high-flavor varieties that we’ve got on hand,” she said.

Huber cited Nielsen data from early December showing that the high-flavor/branded organic apple category was up 5.2% compared to the same time period last year.

December Nielsen data showed that organic Cosmic Crisp apples were up 157% in dollar sales and up 187.5% in sales volume, said Catherine Gipe-Stewart, director of marketing for Yakima-based Domex Superfresh Growers.

“The Jan. 1 Washington State Tree Fruit Association storage report shows that the 2022 organic apple crop holdings are only down 2% from last year,” she said.

“Some varieties, such as organic Pink Lady and Honeycrisp are down 15% and 14%,” she said, while organic gala apples are up 6%, and organic fujis are up 17%.

Flexibility at retail is key, Gipe-Stewart said. “There are apples to promote, but it just may be a different size or variety than what is typical for certain customers.”

For the fifth consecutive year, Rainier Fruit Co., Selah, Wash., has a full menu of year-round Washington-grown organic apples, said Skyler McFeeley, business development manager.

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Gala, fuji, Honeycrisp and granny smith apples will be available from Rainier through summer.

“Currently we have supplies of organic Lady Alice and organic Envy, both high-flavor trade-ups for our customers for the spring,” he said in mid-January.

Organic gala, fuji and Honeycrisp apples have been the staples in the organic category and perform well year-round, especially when on promotion, he said.

Turning to avocados, the market is stable with plenty of volume, mainly from Mexico, said Hector Soltero, vice president of sales planning for Oxnard, Calif.-based Mission Produce Inc.

“Quality is high, and harvest is leaning toward larger sizes,” he said.

The Mexican crop is expected to be 20% higher than last season, and retailers can expect strong opportunities for promotions, Soltero said.

“Our expert category management program uses data-driven insights and market intelligence to help our customers increase sales in their avocado category,” he added.

Organic berries also are available.

Salinas, Calif.-based Naturipe Farms LLC has year-round production of organic blueberries from premium growing regions in Peru, Chile, Mexico, Florida, California, Georgia, Oregon and Washington, said Brian Vertrees, director of business development.

“We have continued to invest in Mexico to ensure we have ample organic strawberry supplies during the winter months,” he said.

The company also is expanding its organic raspberry program out of Mexico.

“Our proprietary variety, Centennial, is flourishing as an organic raspberry, and we’ve seen strong demand for it,” he said.

Most organic fruit grower-shippers anticipate continued growth in the category.

“We’re projecting a huge increase in the coming year,” said Joel Hewitt, domestic sales and organic manager for CMI Orchards.

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“Consumers are more adventurous than ever before with their shopping choices and are far more willing to branch out from their ‘safe’ conventional core varieties,” he said.

“Organic demand remains high and should continue to do so,” Sinks said. “Roughly 52% of organic consumers are millennials, and they account for 30% of the U.S. population.”

Naturipe’s Vertrees also sees potential among millennials.

“Millennials and younger consumers continue to drive this trend at a much higher rate than previous generations, as there continues to be a major focus on not only what goes into our food, but the impact on the environment,” he said.

Stemilt’s Shales also believes the category will expand, especially among the high-flavor apple varieties.

“We certainly want to increase over this year’s crop levels, but we also feel there is untapped demand for organics,” she said.

But Gripe-Stewart said organic category growth is “to be determined.”

“There are organic-heavy consumers that will at least hold the percentages we have now,” she said. “Inflation is playing with the number growing right now, as price-sensitive shoppers switch to conventional.”