Apple shipping has begun out of Pennsylvania. Rice Fruit Company started shipping Gala apples and will also begin with Ginger Gold and Honeycrisp soon.
Rice Fruit is getting a slightly early harvest start this year due to an earlier bloom.
“Our volume will be up slightly. It is a really clean crop that we have to date--no weather events have taken any fruit away. We’ll also have a nice mix of sizes,” says Brenda Briggs, vice president of sales and marketing at Rice Fruit. “We had sufficient rain and sunshine along with cool summer nights, all leading to beautiful apples with fantastic flavor.”
The season is getting a slightly earlier start compared to recent years thanks to an earlier bloom though Briggs says that mid-season varieties are likely to come more in line with last year’s harvest timing.
New crop excitement
As for demand, it’s anticipated to be good. “This year marks our 110th anniversary. We have a very solid following of customers that we’ve worked with for decades that will be very excited to get new crop apples into their stores on the East Coast,” says Briggs.
The grower's Wildfire Gala apple variety.
On pricing, she also notes that costs continue to be up--labor costs have risen 18 percent over two years ago for example. “We expect a higher national crop volume which will affect prices, though the eastern U.S. crop is expected to be down slightly,” says Briggs.
Along with shipping apples, the grower-shipper also continues to focus on its sustainability initiatives as part of its general commitment to become carbon neutral. In addition to incorporating renewable energy sources into its operations such as a solar-panel roof at its main packing facility, this past spring it also launched a pollinator garden as another way to foster biodiversity and support vital pollinators which in turn safeguards the ecosystem that sustains its orchards.
For more information:
Brenda Briggs
Rice Fruit Co.
Tel : +1 (800) 627-3359
[email protected]
https://ricefruit.com/