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June 19, 2015 CapitalPress.com 5 2014 apple crop still shrinking By DAN WHEAT Capital Press CHELAN, Wash. — Wash- ington tree fruit companies have shrunk their record 2014 apple crop by 15 million boxes over the past six months, much of it by dumping poorer grades and sizes on the ground. They likely will keep dis- carding fruit to lessen carryover into the new season in hopes of boosting wholesale prices. Har- vest will begin about the end of July but sales of old crop nor- mally go into October. The latest industry storage report shows the total 2014 crop at 140.6 million, 40-pound box- es as of June 1, down from 155 million on Nov. 1 and down 2.2 million from May 1. “I would expect more shrink in June, July and August. If we whittle things down it could work out well for the new crop,” said Tom Riggan, general man- ager of Chelan Fresh Marketing. The amount of carryover is “the wild card at this point,” he said. Dan Wheat/Capital Press Apples from Manson Fruit Cooperative dumped at an old gravel pit up from the Columbia River at the base of McNeil Canyon on June 10. Many fruit companies throughout Central Washington have been dumping apples for months to reduce the huge 2014 crop. “Prices have strengthened a little here and there on certain varieties. Typically, this time of year we would hope we could get a little more, but it’s been fairly flat. Unless we see more shrink the market will remain flat,” Riggan said. Prices have been at eight- year lows since last fall because of huge volume and the West Coast port slow down causing an estimated $95 million loss in sales. The wholesale value of the state’s apple crop is gener- ally around $2 billion annually. As of June 1, the industry had sold 112 million boxes and had 28.5 million left to go. That’s roughly 6 million more left than a year ago. There are 12 million boxes of Red Delicious left, 4.1 mil- lion Gala, 3.9 million Granny Smith, 3.4 million Golden De- licious, 3.1 million Fuji and 2 million of other varieties, Rig- gan said. As of June 7, 114 million boxes had been sold with 74.7 million domestic and 39.5 mil- lion export. That’s 34 percent exported which is about nor- mal, he said. “We would probably be at 40 percent exported right now if not for the ports (slow down) and China not opening as fast as we thought it would to all varieties,” Riggan said. Fruit not picked in mid-No- vember because of a freeze ac- counted for some of the early reduction in estimate from No- vember to December, but since then much of the reduction has been from dumping. Only so much can go to for juice, sauce and baking ingredients because processors have volume limits. “During the port slow down, everyone in the industry got be- hind (in sales) and have not been able to catch up,” said Reggie Collins, general manager of Chelan Fruit. Some of the dumped apples deteriorated faster in storage than normal because of a record num- ber of days over 90 degrees while they were growing last summer, Collins said. But some of the fruit was ed- ible when it was dumped there just wasn’t room in the market for it, said Doug England, manager of Manson Fruit Cooperative. A certain amount that doesn’t even make processing grade is dumped each year, he said. One of Manson Fruit’s dump sites is an old gravel pit the coop- erative owns part way up McNeil Canyon from Beebe. About 10 truckloads went there and will build up the soil, England said. “It’s a mere drop in the buck- et to the thousands and thousands of bins dumped in Pateros and Brewster,” he said. Chelan Fruit has dumped ap- ples above the town of Pateros causing townspeople to complain about the smell of rotting apples. Gebbers Farms, Brewster, hauled apples into the mountains in the winter which fed deer. Labor is so tight that it will figure into how much is dumped, Riggan said. Companies tight on workers will shift them from packing apples to packing cher- ries, reducing apple packing, he said. Egg producers, consumers feel impact of bird flu By ZANE SPARLING Capital Press Dan Wheat/Capital Press Hops growing up their twine on trellises north of Prosser, Wash., May 20. Growers are pushing ahead with more acreage this year to meet demand. PNW hop acreage up 16 percent By DAN WHEAT Capital Press YAKIMA, Wash. — Hop acreage in Washington, Ore- gon and Idaho will increase 16 percent this year as growers continue to try to meet grow- ing demand from an increase in small, craft breweries. Total acres strung for harvest are 43,987, up from 38,011 in 2014, according to a June 1 forecast released by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service on June 10. Washington is at 32,205 acres, up 3,347 from last year. Oregon is 6,807, up 1,397 from last year and Idaho is 4,975, up 1,232. If those numbers are real- ized it will be the third highest total harvested acreage on re- cord, NASS said. Washington is 73 percent of the national crop, Oregon is 16 percent and Idaho 11 percent. Acreage increased about 10 percent a year for the past three years. Growth of craft breweries is expected to con- tinue to 2020. Acreage is not only in- creasing but continuing to shift away from high alpha varieties large brewers pre- fer to aroma varieties for the small brewers, said Pete Ma- hony, director of supply chain management and purchasing for John I. Haas, Yakima. It’s a leader in hop growing, pro- cessing, research and devel- opment. Previously, Mahony and others have warned of a po- tential shortage of high alpha hops but now Mahony says Germany likely will pick up the slack when large brewers re-enter the market. Large brewers became oversupplied with C02 extract of high alpha in 2008 and 2009 and are still reducing their in- ventory, he said. Germany has a new high alpha variety called Hercu- les that is better yielding than CTZ, the main high alpha in the U.S., Mahony said. “We feel that with the ex- pansion of that (Hercules) when the big brewers come back, Germany will make up much of the shortfall we may have in the U.S.,” he said. The larger issue, he said, is tightness of available land in traditional growing areas in the Pacific Northwest and enough plant capacity to process larg- er volumes of aroma varieties that have tighter harvest win- dows. “Growers need a balance of early, mid and late maturing varieties. Therefore, varietal mix on the farms is of increas- ing importance as acreage shifts further into aroma, ef- fectively shrinking the harvest window,” he said. Growers are expanding fa- cilities but it costs millions of dollars, he said. Summit, CTZ and Super Galena are the high alpha varieties of greatest acreage decline and Simcoe, Centen- nial, Mosaic and Citra are the aroma varieties of greatest in- crease, according to NASS. The 2015 crop is reported- ly very good with normal pest and disease pressure, NASS said. In Washington’s Yakima Valley growers are using effi- cient drip irrigation to conserve water and are supplementing normal irrigation supplies with groundwater, NASS said. Ore- gon and Idaho have adequate water in hop growing areas, the agency said. The deadly outbreak of avian influenza in the U.S. has shuttered farms in 15 states, increased shell and liquid eggs prices to histor- ic highs and led to blanket bans on American poultry products in China and South Korea. But in the wake of 47 million dead birds, the question for both consum- ers and producers remains — has the death toll peak- ed, or is the worst still to come? David Harvey, a United States Department of Agri- culture economist who spe- cializes in poultry, said even an epidemiologist can’t an- swer that question for cer- tain. But scientists agree that warm weather slows the spread of the H5N2 virus, commonly known as bird flu, for two reasons. When temperatures rise, experts say, the virus can- not survive in the wild for long periods; and migra- tory ducks and geese, who are thought to be the pri- mary vector for the conta- gion, settle down during the warmer months. “Waterfowl are just car- riers. They don’t die from it,” Harvey said. The economist said the egg industry is a ‘thin’ mar- ket. As with the fresh vegeta- ble industry, the product has a finite lifespan and it’s more difficult stockpile reserves. It takes time for a newborn chick to maturate, too. “It’s not like a factory. You can’t just add a second shift,” Harvey said. The price of liquid or ‘beater’ eggs, which are used by large manufacturers to make everything from ice cream to pasta to Egg Mc- Muffins, jumped to $1.50 per dozen, up from $0.63 since late April, according to commodity reporting ser- vice Urner Barry. For shell eggs, the es- timated price for a dozen large Grade A eggs rose to $1.66 in June, a 30-cent increase, according to a USDA supply and demand forecast. The department predicts prices may rise to as high as $1.87 per dozen by the fourth quarter. The epidemic has cre- ated winners and losers all The loss of 47 million hens to bird flu has caused egg prices to reach historic highs. across the U.S., according to Harvey. Iowa alone has lost 30 million birds — roughly 40 percent of the state’s egg-laying hens and 11 percent of the state’s tur- key population. “You have to balance the people who lost mon- ey because they had to cull their birds… against ev- eryone else,” Harvey said. “If you’re an egg produc- er in Pennsylvania, you’re selling your eggs for much more than you thought.” Greg Satrum, who co- owns Willamette Egg Farms in Canby, Ore., said none of that concerns him. “I’m a production guy. I’m worried about chick- ens, other guys are worried about prices,” he said. “But as it becomes more compet- itive for buyers seeking the same product, it does push the price higher. It’s the na- ture of the business.” Oregon has seen only two incidents of H5N2, af- fecting less than 200 birds, according to the USDA. The last known case was report- ed in February. That’s given Satrum time Capital Press file photo to scrutinize the farm’s bi- osecurity measures. Willa- mette Egg Farms’ employ- ees must wash their hands and use footbaths before entering hen houses, and many workers keep separate boots and coveralls inside the barns. For most, that might be good enough. But Satrum said that good enough might not cut it anymore. “You can only control what happens outside so much. And you have no control over what flies over your farm,” he said. Joyce Capital, Inc. In agriculture, nothing is certain. Your interest rate should be. We offer competitive interest rates for your agricultural financing needs: • Term agricultural loans (purchases & refinances) • FSA Preferred Lender • Amortizations up to 25 years CONTACT: Kevin Arrien, or Joe Lodge at Joyce Capital, Inc. Agricultural Loan Agents (208) 338-1560 • Boise, ID joe@arrien.biz 25-2/#17 25-2/#5
