Supplies of almost all varieties of apples from Michigan are still ample. “They’re excellent on Gala, Fuji, Reds, Golds and Ambrosia. We had a record crop this year and basically, all the varieties across the board were up,” says Scott Swindeman of Applewood Fresh Growers LLC in Sparta, Michigan. “We had a big crop of Honeycrisp too but we also had some weather issues with rain which reduced our pack-outs significantly. So we’re pretty much all finished with Honeycrisp in Michigan.” The remaining varieties, he adds, should go into the summer.
As for demand, while January's movement on apples was surprisingly slow, it’s picking back up this month. “Up until December, movement from the get-go was pretty good. However January was slow and we heard that with Washington and New York too,” he adds.
The impact of Washington’s crop
In fact, this season Washington has a notably smaller crop which helped demand in Michigan--especially given Washington’s harvest season was also running late. “It helped us at the start of the season. However, if Washington’s movement is slow, that will push supplies further out for them,” says Swindeman.
All of this means that prices are up on Michigan apples but so are costs of course. “Between the extra labor costs at the packing house level, at farm level--our labor costs are drastically higher--it’s returning to the growers a little bit better money but nothing like you’d expect,” says Swindeman.
For more information:
Scott Swindeman
Applewood Fresh Growers LLC
Tel: +1 (616) 239-2871
[email protected]
www.applewoodfresh.com