August 25, 2017
CapitalPress.com
7
Record cherry crop Above-average juice grape crop expected
down due
reaching finish line Demand
to sugared drink
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. — The
Pacific Northwest is closing in
on the end of a sweet cherry har-
vest memorable for record vol-
ume, great weather and quality
and likely one of the longest.
Picking began June 6 in
Mattawa, Wash., and will fin-
ish about the end of August
in high-elevation orchards
near Hood River, Ore., and
Wenatchee, Chelan and Brew-
ster, Wash. It will be an 80- to
90-day season.
Through Aug. 3, Washing-
ton, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and
Montana shipped 25.5 million,
20-pound boxes of cherries,
eclipsing the previous record
of 23.2 million boxes in 2014,
according to Northwest Cherry
Growers, the industry’s promo-
tional arm in Yakima.
Washington typically grows
80 to 85 percent of the five-
state crop and more than 60
percent of the national crop.
Washington’s crop value was
$471 million in 2016, accord-
ing to USDA.
An Aug. 11 NCG email
newsletter indicates the North-
west could finish at 27.5 mil-
lion boxes since 2.4 million
had been picked in August with
likely 2 million to go.
A record 15.2 million box-
es were shipped in July. Ship-
ments averaged 500,000 boxes
or more per day for more than
30 days.
NCG’s promotions and re-
tail ads were big going into the
Fourth of July and have contin-
ued through summer, which has
been important to compete with
heavy volumes of other fruits,
said James Michael, NCG vice
president of promotions.
“It was critical for us to
have the volume and the No.
1 advertised item in fruit for
about a month,” Michael said.
“It’s been an interesting year.
Phenomenal volume, which
caused a lot of price pressure,
but that’s how to build new
markets. We went deeper into
a lot of export markets in Asia,
making investments on price to
grow those markets,” said Tim
Evans, general sales manager
of Chelan Fresh Marketing, a
large cherry sales desk.
“A lot of people around the
globe don’t buy fresh cherries
so there’s a lot of room for
growth,” he said.
The large crop also led to
fruit not being as large as last
year. Many packers decided
not to pack 11.5-row cherries
and smaller. Size is the num-
ber of cherries in one row of a
20-pound box.
“This year was heavy to 10
and 10.5-row and last year 55
percent of our fruit was 9.5-row
and larger,” Evans said.
Wholesale prices sagged
into the mid to upper $20s per
box in July from the heavy vol-
ume, which was “very tough
on growers,” Evans said.
Prices rebounded “quite well”
to $35 to $50 in August, he
said.
Idaho could pass Oregon
this year as No. 2 hop state
backlash, more
beverage choices
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SUNNYSIDE, Wash. —
Industry members expect an
above-average juice grape
crop, but low market demand.
“If the weather holds, we
should have a pretty good
one,” Craig Bardwell said of
the harvest, slated to begin in
mid-September.
Bardwell, senior viticul-
ture specialist for the National
Grape Cooperative, based in
Grandview, Wash., expects an
above-average Concord, or
purple, crop, about 9.5 tons per
acre compared to an average of
9 acres per acre.
Niagara, or white, grapes
will be close to 12 tons per acre,
also above the 10.9 ton per acre
average, Bardwell said.
“Considering that last year
we had almost a 17-ton per acre
average, we’re quite surprised
that they’ve come back as well
as they have,” Bardwell said.
“We actually expected the Ni-
agara crop to be down a little bit
more than it is because of how
large a crop it was last year, but
it’s actually coming back quite
nicely.”
Some growers’ Niagara
grapes do show signs of stress,
Bardwell said.
Sunnyside, Wash., farmer
Art den Hoed raises Concord
and Niagara juice grapes on
280 acres.
Harvest will begin around
Sept. 18. The berries appear
to be a little smaller, but den
Hoed reported a bigger num-
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Art den Hoed, a Sunnyside, Wash., farmer, looks at his Concord grapes Aug. 14. Den Hoed will begin
harvesting in September. He expects an above-average crop, but said prices are below the cost of
production.
ber of bunches.
The state yield average is
about 8 tons to 8.5 tons per
acre, den Hoed said. He ex-
pects his crop to get about 10
tons to 12 tons per acre.
Historically, Washington
juice grapes don’t see much
disease or insect pressure. Pow-
dery mildew occurs under the
right conditions, but is rare,
Bardwell said.
“They’re pretty tolerant,”
den Hoed said. “Nothing af-
fects them, generally. On the
East Coast, it’s a different deal,
but over here in this arid cli-
mate, it’s not a problem.”
Juice grapes are generally
produced by the ton, with-
out the precision required for
a wine grape, enabling den
Hoed to harvest mechanically.
Prices are down to $100
to $120 per ton, which is not
profitable, den Hoed said.
He’d prefer to see $160 to
$180 per ton.
“It’s kind of a slump in the
market at the moment, and it
seems to be lasting a little lon-
ger than everybody thought it
would,” he said.
Because of the pressure,
some growers are replacing
juice grapes with wine grapes,
hops or orchards, but not
enough to see an impact on
prices, den Hoed said.
“It’s the kind of ground
that’s desirable for other
things,” he said.
In five of the last six years,
the grape crop has been above
average in all growing re-
gions, Bardwell said. The
overall supply hasn’t shrunk
even though acreage declined.
In 2005, Washington had
26,000 acres of Concords. To-
day, it’s closer to 18,000 and
19,000 acres.
Niagara grape acreage is
about 12,000 acres.
The slump is occurring
throughout the fruit juice
industry, with all juices ex-
periencing a decline in sales,
Bardwell said.
“Obviously when you have
Dr. Oz go on TV and tell the
audience they shouldn’t be
drinking apple juice or grape
juice because of the high sug-
ar, that doesn’t help,” he said.
Customers also have more
beverage choices when they
walk into a grocery store than
they did 20 years ago, Bard-
well said.
“It kind of dilutes the mar-
ket for everyone,” he said.
The industry is looking for
other products to market the
grapes, including new prod-
ucts that aren’t jams or jellies,
or as ingredients, Bardwell
said.
Den Hoed believes the
Concord grape is getting
caught up in the decline by
mistake.
“It’s a natural sugar drink,”
he said. “A Concord grape
drink (by) itself, I feel, is
good. It’s got antioxidants in
it like a glass of red wine.”
Almond growers anticipate another record as harvest begins
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
WILDER, Idaho — Idaho
is projected to pass Oregon
this year to become the sec-
ond-largest
hop-producing
state in the nation.
According to Aug. 10 pro-
jections by USDA’s National
Agricultural Statistics Ser-
vice, Idaho hop growers will
produce 12.83 million pounds
of hops in 2017 and Oregon
farmers will produce 12.75
million pounds.
“We have a chance” at that
No. 2 spot, said Idaho hop
grower Mike Gooding. “It’s
going to be close.”
Gooding said his family
has been producing hops in
Idaho for 70 years “and Idaho
has always been in the third
spot for as long as anybody
can remember.”
Nabbing the No. 2 spot
— Washington is an unchal-
lenged No. 1 with an estimat-
ed 72 million pounds this year
— won’t mean anything other
than bragging rights, Gooding
said, but it is a good sign of
the health of the Idaho indus-
try.
Idaho has been bearing
down hard on Oregon for the
No. 2 spot for several years
and even if the state doesn’t
pass Oregon this year, it ap-
pears it’s only a matter of time
before that happens.
Idaho hop acres have
soared from 3,743 in 2014 to
7,169 in 2017.
During that same peri-
od, Oregon’s hop acres have
also increased, although more
slowly, from 5,410 in 2014 to
8,045 in 2017.
But average yield per acre
is greater in Idaho — hop
yields are forecast to be 1,790
pounds per acre in Idaho this
year and 1,596 pounds in Or-
egon./
NASS projects that the dif-
ference in yields will nudge
Idaho past Oregon this year.
Idaho yields are higher be-
cause the state’s hop farmers
grow more of the high-yield-
ing, high-alpha varieties,
which grow better in hot, dry
climates such as southwestern
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
Capital Press File
Higher yields could help Idaho
pass Oregon as the No. 2
hop-producing state.
Idaho, where most of Idaho’s
hops are produced, Gooding
said.
Those high-alpha varieties
produce much higher yields
than the aroma varieties pop-
ular in Oregon’s hop growing
region of Marion and Polk
counties, said Oregon Hop
Commission Administrator
Michelle Palacios.
The difference in land
availability and expense be-
tween the states’ hop grow-
ing regions is a big reason
Idaho has added more acres
in recent years, Palacios
said.
She said Oregon’s hop
industry has experienced
healthy growth in recent years
and Idaho’s success has not
come at Oregon’s expense
and is good for the overall do-
mestic hop industry.
“I don’t think there are go-
ing to be any hard feelings,”
Palacios said of the possibility
her state could lose its No. 2
hop ranking. “We are still be-
ing very successful in our cor-
ner of the world. We feel good
any time the U.S. hop industry
is successful.”
While the battle for the
No. 2 spot will be close this
year, Gooding said Idaho’s
first-year, or baby, hops likely
won’t yield as well as some
people thought they would
when NASS gathered the data
it used for its projections.
“The way the babies look,
I don’t know that we’ll pass
Oregon this year,” he said.
“Those babies are not turning
out the way people expected
when that information was
gathered.”
TEHAMA, Calif. — The
harvest of almonds in Cali-
fornia’s Central Valley is off
to a late but abundant start as
growers bring in an anticipated
record crop.
Tehama Angus Ranch in
the northern Sacramento Val-
ley started shaking trees about
two weeks ago, and now near-
ly all of its Nonpareils are off
the ground, farmer Eric Borror
said.
“Our yields are proba-
bly just a little better than
last year,” he said. “It’s not
a bumper crop but a decent
crop.”
Nearby, Red Bluff grower
Tyler Christensen said he is
seeing “decent” yields after
getting off to a late start be-
cause of weather.
“I think more than any-
thing, (the challenge is) just
keeping everything under con-
trol with all this heat,” Chris-
tensen said. “We’ve been irri-
gating a little heavier. We came
off the drought and thought
everything would be a little
easier this year, but we’re still
having to irrigate more.”
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
Eric Borror of Tehama Angus Ranch near Tehama, Calif., checks a
couple of almonds from a pile that is about to be swept up on Aug.
17. The farm has been harvesting almonds for about two weeks,
with nearly all of its Nonpareils having been picked up.
Growers in the Golden State
expect to harvest 2.25 billion
meat pounds this year, a more
than 5 percent increase from the
record-setting 2016 production
of 2.14 billion meat pounds,
according to the National Agri-
cultural Statistics Service.
The average nut set per tree
this year is 5,714, down 7.2 per-
cent from the 2016 crop, reports
the NASS office in Sacramento.
But bearing acreage is expected
to reach the 1 million-acre mark
this year, up from 940,000 acres
last year, according to NASS.
This year’s crop has been re-
silient amid weather extremes.
Winter storms and cold weather
extended the bloom in February
and March, then growers had
to prevent damage from heat
as Central Valley temperatures
have soared well into the triple
digits for several stretches this
summer.
The Nonpareil harvest
proceeds as orchard ground
preparation has continued
around the state for later vari-
eties, according to NASS.
The anticipated record crop
comes as shipments have so
far kept pace with production.
The industry capped off a big
shipping year at the end of July,
as domestic shipments and ex-
ports were up 14 percent and
17 percent, respectively, for the
2016-17 crop year, according
to the Almond Board of Cali-
fornia.
The shipments have helped
prices stabilize in recent months
after a price slide that began in
late 2015, with prices falling by
nearly half from the more than
$4 a pound that was paid for
some almonds during the 2014
crop year.
“The price is holding steady,
and steady is good,” Borror
said.
With harvest underway, the
Almond Board is reminding
growers of its recommended
management practices for re-
ducing dust.
Such practices include start-
ing with a clean orchard, plan-
ning the route to avoid extra
passes, going low with sweep-
ers but not too low, using wire
tires and trying slow speeds and
fans, spokesman Kyle Kapust-
ka said.
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