January 6, 2017
CapitalPress.com
9
Quinoa researchers to continue work on crop
Field trials narrow
hunt for varieties
suited for region
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Courtesy of SweeTango
The SweeTango club variety of apples is sold out for 2016. Produc-
ers anticipate continued growth for the apple in the years ahead.
SweeTango club
apples halfway to
800,000-box goal
Capital Press
SweeTango apples finished
its sales this fall at 402,000,
40-pound boxes, up slightly
from 380,000 sold in 2015.
The variety averaged 54
pounds per store in weekly
sales in U.S. stores tracked
by Nielsen Company between
Aug. 7 and Oct. 29, up from
43.6 during the same time
frame in 2015, said Cristie
Mather, spokeswoman for
Next Big Thing, a grower co-
operative based in Lake City,
Minn., that has the commer-
cial rights.
That was its peak sales pe-
riod and it was the 10th best
selling apple in volume in
those weeks, falling just be-
hind Pink Lady and Jazz, Ma-
ther said.
SweeTango was second
best when compared only
with other club varieties and
it was sold out at the end of
November, she said.
Pricing averaged $2.33 per
pound and per store sales av-
eraged $233 a week.
The apple is grown by up to
47 growers in Minnesota, Mich-
igan, Wisconsin, Washington,
New York and Nova Scotia.
In July, Next Big Thing es-
timated this fall’s crop would
at 450,000 boxes. Hail in the
Midwest and some cracking
Online
http://www.sweetango.com or
on Facebook at http://www.
facebook.com/sweetango.
at harvest decreased the vol-
ume, Mather said.
SweeTango is expected to
double in volume within sev-
eral years, she said.
It is one of many club va-
rieties — meaning production
is limited to certain growers
— that’s small in volume.
Washington’s leading open
varieties are Red Delicious
estimated at 39.2 million box-
es from the 2016 crop and
Gala at 32 million.
A robust marketing pro-
gram of refreshed packaging
designs, digital coupons, in-
store demos and social me-
dia raised awareness, Mather
said. A new tagline, “Free the
Crunch,” was introduced.
A series of short-form an-
imated videos promoted the
loud crunch and sweet-tangy
flavor of SweeTango, collec-
tively receiving 42,000 views
on YouTube and Facebook
over 90 days, she said.
“It’s the loud crunch fol-
lowed by the yum,” she said.
SweeTango was bred from
Honeycrisp and Zestar at the
University of Minnesota and
was introduced to consumers
in 2009.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press File
Washington State University breeder Kevin Murphy at a trial of quinoa varieties June 22, 2016, near
Pullman, Wash. A $2 million USDA grant will help researchers learn more about the crop and varieties
that can be produced in the Pacific Northwest, Murphy says.
ment.
Under the grant, Kate
Painter, a University of Ida-
ho Extension educator, will
examine quinoa prices in the
market, what yields farm-
ers can expect — the range
is 1,200 to 1,400 pounds per
acre on the Palouse — and
what they might net per acre.
Prices have been volatile.
The grant allows research-
ers to target heat and drought
tolerance, weeds, insect pests
and processing and end uses.
“Where we’re at now is
just being able to focus on the
major problems,” he said.
Fewer than 1,000 acres
of quinoa were planted in
Washington last year. Rough-
ly 1,000 acres were grown in
California last year.
Most farmers are planting
10 to 20 acres on an experi-
mental basis, Murphy said.
Pacific Northwest farmers
are well-positioned to raise
quinoa because of the region’s
dry summers, which are also
cooler than elsewhere in the
nation, Murphy said.
The variety Jessie, avail-
able in the PNW, is free of sa-
ponin, a soap-like covering on
the outer seed that needs to be
removed. Other saponin-free
lines will take a little longer
to get to market, Murphy said.
A processing facility to
remove saponin operating in
Yuba City, Calif. Other facili-
ties are expected, he said.
Murphy will narrow down
national trials to 20 to 25 ad-
vanced breeding lines, testing
against check varieties for the
next two years before releas-
ing four to six WSU varieties
for different locations and en-
vironments.
JUICI apples show big potential, company says
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
A large Washington tree fruit
company is planning a fast
ramp-up of its new JUICI ap-
ple that it says received “rave
reviews” at a global trade
gathering a couple of months
ago.
Oneonta Starr Ranch
Growers, of Wenatchee, has
high hopes for JUICI, a cross
between Honeycrisp and
Braeburn that it developed
over the last 10 years with
Willow Drive Nursery of
Ephrata. Oneonta has North
American growing, packing
and marketing rights.
To round out its new offer-
ings for the next several years,
Oneonta has been more slow-
ly launching KORU and New
Zealand Honeycrisp, both
New Zealand varieties, over
the past three years.
Thousands of people sam-
pled and gave JUICI high
marks at the Produce Market-
ing Association’s Fresh Sum-
mit trade show in Orlando,
Fla., in October, said Bruce
Turner, Oneonta’s national
marketing representative.
In mid-December, Oneon-
ta finished its first six weeks
of commercial sales of less
than 20,000, 40-pound box-
Courtesy of Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers
JUICI apples at fall harvest. Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers of
Wenatchee, Wash., has just completed the new apple’s first com-
mercial sales season..
es of JUICI with several key
retailers in parts of the coun-
try identified by taste demo-
graphics. People in certain re-
gions, based on previous data,
are known to have a prefer-
ence for sweet or tart apples.
“JUICI offers a wonderful
balance of sweet and tart with
amazing crunch and juici-
ness,” Turner said.
“Because of its Honey-
crisp parentage, the apple
respirates slowly and has in-
credible shelf life,” said Scott
Marboe, Oneonta marketing
director.
JUICI comes off the tree in
excess of 18 to 20 pounds per
square inch, making it a dense
apple that holds its crunch at
room temperature, Marboe
said. Gala is typically 14 psi,
Turner said.
JUICI has been planted in
Chelan, Quincy and Yakima
and planting will be heavy
over the next several years to
bring it to 500,000 boxes of
fruit by 2022, Turner said.
“We felt strongly enough
that we knew we had to create
a significant amount to carve
out market share,” he said.
Competition is keen for
new, high-quality varieties
kept at relatively low volumes
to maintain good grower re-
turns.
KORU, a cross between
Fuji and Braeburn, is a super
sweet apple, close to 18 brix
(sugar content) compared
with 14 for Gala, Turner said.
“It’s like eating candy,” he
said.
KORU is managed in
North America by Oneon-
ta, Borton Fruit in Yakima
and New York Apple Sales
in Glenmont, N.Y. It will be
at more than 1,000 acres and
1 million boxes of apples by
2020 in domestic and import,
Turner said.
New Zealand Honey-
crisp will probably top out at
500,000 boxes and is meant to
fill in for the lack of domestic
Honeycrisp before fall har-
vest, he said.
“We grow it on the south
island in Canterbury Plains.
It’s more like Michigan or
Minnesota in latitude and we
get incredible deep red col-
or. Deeper than Honeycrisp
in Washington state,” Turner
said. “For retailers wanting
Honeycrisp after end of do-
mestic crop, it’s superior to
what is coming out of Chile.”
Oneonta sells about 15
million boxes of apples and
pears annually with 1.3 mil-
lion boxes of organic apples
and about 2 million boxes of
cherries.
USDA approves assessment
increase for Almond Board
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
ROP-40-42-4/#17
By DAN WHEAT
A new USDA grant will
help researchers answer key
questions for Northwest farm-
ers about quinoa.
Washington State Univer-
sity quinoa breeder Kevin
Murphy expects a four-year,
$2 million grant from the
agency’s Organic Agriculture
Research and Extension Ini-
tiative to be available shortly.
Quinoa is a “pseudo-cere-
al” related to amaranth, spin-
ach and beets with a seed that
is an edible.
The grant is for organic
practices, but research efforts
also cover conventionally
grown quinoa, Murphy said.
The proposal includes re-
searchers in Maryland, Min-
nesota and Nevada, who will
subcontract to test quinoa
varieties in different environ-
ments, Murphy said. Mary-
land and Minnesota are wet-
ter in the summer, the better
to find varieties resistant to
pre-harvest sprouting.
WSU is leading the proj-
ect. Brigham Young Univer-
sity and Utah State University
will continue their involve-
MODESTO, Calif. — The
Almond Board of California
has received the USDA’s ap-
proval to raise its handler as-
sessments from 3 cents to 4
cents per pound over the next
three years.
The move will enable the
board to continue with re-
search initiatives to make al-
mond farming more environ-
mentally friendly as well as
funding stepped-up marketing
efforts overseas, officials said.
The increase will be limit-
ed to three years because it is
expected that almond produc-
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tion will increase significantly
during that period, providing
more funding at the previous
rate of 3 cents per pound.
Unlike some other mar-
keting orders, the Almond
Board does not need to go to
a referendum to boost the as-
sessment, spokeswoman Lin-
da Romander said in an email.
The USDA approved the in-
crease after it was discussed
in several public meetings and
underwent two Agricultur-
al Marketing Service public
notice and comment periods,
spokeswoman Carissa Sauer
said.
“The idea is to give us a
shot in the arm with some
additional funding,” Almond
Board president and chief ex-
ecutive officer Richard Way-
cott said when announcing the
increase. “We need to invest
now by keeping demand ahead
of supply.”
The board wants to increase
global demand before an antic-
ipated 25 percent increase in
production by 2020, officials
said in a news release.
In addition to marketing,
more assessment income will
help the board deal with such
concerns as a changing water
supply, air quality issues relat-
ed to harvest and pesticides,
and honey bee health, the
board said.