Washington Fruit Plans for Continued Growth in Organics

It was in 2014 that Washington Fruit & Produce Co., Yakima, WA, began transitioning some of its acreage from conventional to organic production.  The company marketed its first organic production in 2017 and now about 10 percent of its apple volume is devoted to organics, with continued growth on the horizon.

Matt Miles, organic program coordinator, revealed that the volume’s ascent occurred rapidly as it went from about 50,000 cartons in 2017 to 1.4 million cartons in 2018.  The firm also began transitioning its pear volume and by this year organic pears also are expected to represent about 10 percent of the company’s total volume in that category.

Matt Miles, organic program coordinator, Washington Fruit & Produce

“We are continuing to increase both pear and apple volume,” Miles said, but he noted that conventional volume is also on the rise, so the 90/10 percentage split is fairly stable at this point.

In its organic line-up, Washington Fruit’s most voluminous varieties include Galas, Fujis and Honeycrisp.  Additionally, Washington Fruit also has Organic Golden Delicious, Pink Lady, Red Delicious and Granny Smith along with some acres of Cosmic Crisp in transition.  “We do expect continued growth in the newer varieties,” he said, adding that there is a need for additional organic Ambrosia and Honey Crisp fruit.

Miles said demand for organic apples and pears continues to increase and there is still a premium paid for those offerings.  However, as is expected, the margin between the f.o.b. prices on organic fruit and conventional fruit has narrowed.  One thing fueling that decrease in the margin this year is a heavy organic crop while at the same time the conventional crop is the lightest one in a decade.

In 2017/18, there was a total of about 131 million cartons of apples with 13.3 million, or 10 percent being organic.  This season – 2018/19 – the conventional apple crop is lighter than it has been since 2008 with only slightly more than 100 million cartons expected to be shipped by the end of the season.  Conversely, the organic crop – fueled by more acreage being transitioned – jumped to about 14.7 million cartons (as of May 1, 2019 storage report), which is about 12.5 percent of the total crop.

Miles said the good news for organic buyers is that there will be several organic varieties that last until the new crop begins harvest in late August and September.  That has been an issue in recent years as the organic volume ran out before the new crop began.  “The industry will definitely have Galas and Fujis until the new crop,” he said.  “And maybe Pink Lady’s and Golden Delicious.”

Talking with OPN last month, Miles said the crop of organic Honey Crisp was close to completion and that popular variety will gap before the 2019/20 crop is ready to be packed and sold.

While the price margin has declined, Miles said it is still very evident attesting to the continued popularity of organic fruit.  “The margin was at all-time high in 2015/16 at 80-100 percent,” he said.  “It’s not that high anymore, but it still is at 30-40 percent.”

Currently, growers are looking at the 2019/20 crop and like what they see.  Miles said it appears that the conventional crop will have a nice bounce-back year and the organic crop should continue to increase because of increased acreage.  While Mother Nature will have a lot to say with the final results, he said the industry is currently anticipating an average yield with individual fruit trending toward the larger sizes. Taking a look at the reported Washington apple acreage in transition, Miles said next year’s organic crop should be larger simply because there should be more acres harvested. But he added that demand continues to increase so the industry should be able to absorb that increased volume.