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.
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