Crop Report: May 1st, 2020
Tomatoes
Conventionals – Transplanting continues and we are now well into planting our late harvest varieties. Early and mid-season plantings are growing nicely. Warm temperatures are giving plants a nice little push on development.
San Marzano Style – Plants growing and continue to mature well. Day time temperatures were normal to slightly higher than usual giving plants a nice growth spurt.
Organics – Continuing to grow and mature nicely. Temperatures were normal to slightly higher than usual giving plants a nice growth spurt. Should be in full bloom later this week or early next week.
Peaches
Organics – Thinning continues and growth is moving along nicely. All other normal cultural practices continue along with standard crop protection.
Conventionals – The natural sloughing period has begun. This is where the tree aborts smaller fruit so it can focus its resources on creating a larger, quality crop. We will have a better idea on crop potential once this is completed. Fruit is making good progress with warm weather. Pit hardening is expected within the next week. Thinning continues in the extra early varieties. Cost of labor to thin trees up from 2019.All normal cultural practices including tying, mowing and irrigating as needed along with crop protection continue.
Apples
Due to their later blooms the orchards were spared any significant frost damage that other commodities in the Pacific Northwest experienced. There were small areas of loss, however the increased bearing acreage should offset the minor reduction. Projected harvest is equivalent to tonnage of last year’s 2019 harvest.
Pears
River and Linden district growers estimate their overall crop is down 20%. Other districts’ volume appears to be as anticipated and on track for a normal year. Pear growth continues to progress and crop is getting harder to see as leaves grow. Normal cultural practices and crop protection continue.
Grapes
Grapes are continuing to progress with warmer temperatures. Bunch counts continue to take place in various vineyards to gauge the crop size. Normal cultural practices and crop protection continue.
Cherries
Cherry crop is projected to be down compared to the last 3 years based on current crop analysis. The first official industry crop estimate will be made May 13th. Factors include losses from spring frosts as well as orchard removals. Normal cultural practices continue.
Apricots
Fruit is sizing well in all orchards. Strong winds are not helping to keep fruit on the trees. Samples will be taken this week to determine the average number of apricots per pound. Normal cultural practices and crop protection continue.
Oysters
This year’s expected yield is not as ideal as anticipated which will affect the availability of inventory. Market pricing of fresh oysters is making it hard for canneries to compete, resulting increased cost for raw product. We anticipate we will be able to continue to source the majority of our pack from Korea however will balance out as necessary from Chinese supplier.
Mandarins
Plants in China are 100% up and running. Although they are on time with shipments, we are facing challenges in other areas as a result of shutdowns due to COVID-19. Freight and trucking at the ports are delayed as they continue to play catch up with increased shipments.
Mango
Current crop appears to be balanced for the upcoming harvest. We expect to see a normal pack for this year.
Pineapple
Overall tonnage is down significantly. Factors for this include 2 consecutive years of drought as well as farmers leaving the market to plant other crops after a drop in prices in 2017. Lower yields are causing facilities to run at lower capacity, reducing efficiencies therefore increasing production costs. Facilities are competing against one another to bring in more raw product causing prices to increase. These factors along with increases in labor and transportation are causing the already reduced market amidst a global pandemic where consumers are demanding more product to become quite expensive.