Gala apple harvest in full swing

By Drew Foster, Herald staff writer

The Gala apple harvest is in full swing at many Mid-Columbia orchards, and early signs point to a solid apple season overall.

"Thus far, the Gala crop looks to be very good," said Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission.

Keith Mathews, executive director of the Yakima Valley Growers-Shippers Association, credited the good-looking harvest, which began in mid- to late August, to few summer storms. However, he said the stretch of 100-plus-degree days in July caused some stem splits, in which the apple's skin near its stem tears. Those apples likely won't be sold on the fresh market.

Kent Waliser, general manager of Sagemoor Farms north of Pasco, was a victim of a late spring storm this year but said the apples that survived are high quality. He lost much of his Gala crop to a hailstorm in early June. Of 50 acres of Galas he grows, about 10 were harvested.

"(The storm) made the fruit unmarketable in the fresh market," he said. "So we just can't pick it."

Sagemoor Farms harvested its Galas in August. "They were very nice," Waliser said.

Gala, the state's second-largest apple crop behind Red Delicious, is selling for more than $21 per 40-pound box so far this season. At this time last year, it was selling at about $28 per box. In 2007, it fetched about $23 per box.

Dan Kelly, assistant manager of the Washington Growers Clearing House, said the average price for Galas throughout 2008 was just above $20 despite its high start early in the season. Galas' average price throughout 2007 was $21.19.

Now that his Galas are picked, Waliser is waiting on his Granny Smith, Jazz and Pacific Rose apples to ripen. "We're pretty much on idle," he said, adding that the farm will begin harvesting again in late September or early October. Besides the hail that hurt his Gala harvest, Waliser also had a tough cherry season, with an overabundant crop littered with small cherries. Many were left hanging.

"It was a tough year," he said. "The trials and tribulations of farming."

Mathews called the ability to store apples for months a "saving grace."

"We can put them into hibernation," he said. "That's the difference with apples."

About 2.5 million boxes of apples harvested in 2008 still need to be shipped, he said.

Joe Ross, a statistician with the Washington Field Office of the National Agriculture Statistics Service, said the majority of those apples are Red Delicious. Ross said the remaining 2008 apples will likely fetch a lower price than apples harvested in 2009, which could affect the average overall price of apples in the state.

Fresh market apple production in Washington is expected to top 107 million boxes this year. Overall production, which includes apples sent to juice and sauce factories, should reach about 140 million boxes, Mathews said.

He said last year's fresh market apple harvest set a record at 109 million boxes. The 2008 market, however, was dogged by a late-season hailstorm that hurt the Red Delicious crop. Many apples were undersized and undervalued.

"I've been on orchards in Quincy, Wenatchee and Yakima in the last few weeks," Mathews said. "The fruit looks larger this year."

The average market price of Washington's Red Delicious apples in 2008 was $14.45 per box, Kelly said. That was down from $19.54 per box in 2007. He said this year's Red Delicious crop, which won't be harvested until early October, will likely be priced between the 2007 and 2008 figures.

But that's just a hunch.

"Until the fruit gets in the barn, or the warehouse, it's a crapshoot out there," Kelly said.

-- Drew Foster: 585-7207; dfoster@tricityherald.com

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Thursday, Sep. 10, 2009

Gala apple harvest in full swing

By Drew Foster, Herald staff writer