Apple and Blueberry Outlook

Apples and blueberries are two of America’s most popular fruits. They also have undergone a lot of changes at the farm level over the years.

Dan Griffith, Crop Horticultural Advisor with GS Long in Yakima has spent more than forty years helping Washington apple growers get the most from their orchards. Washington is the nation’s leading apple producer, accounting for two-thirds of U.S. production, checking in at about 2 ½ million tons of fruit produced each year. 

 He says efficiency is a key to future prosperity for the apple industry.

“It’s everything,” Griffith said. “The more bins you can produce per acre, the less cost you have per bin… Being able to get a good yield is so important to keep you cost per bin down.”

Griffith said there’s an increased focus in the microbiological activity in the soil, which improves efficiency, provides better nutrition to the tree, and allows for less fertilizer use per acre. 

He added, while Red Delicious apples remain a major player, many other varieties are gaining greater interest, including the Cosmic Crisp, a crispy, juicy apple that stores well.

This year has been a challenge for apple growers in Washington. A very late, cold spring contributed to one of the smallest crops in many years. The 2023 apple crop is expected to be significantly larger than this year’s. 

Another popular fruit, the blueberry, provides a great one-two punch of taste and nutrition. Brad Harper grows blueberries in Michigan. The cool summers and relatively warm winters have been favorable for their family farm. 

Besides Michigan, Washington and Georgia are very large blueberry producers. The annual U.S. crop size is about 600 million pounds a year.

Harper has had great success utilizing Redox Bio-Nutrients products over the last decade, reducing conventional inputs, and bringing about a dramatic boost in production.

He said the Michigan state average is about 4,200 pounds of blueberries per acre, while their farm started at 6-8,000 pounds per acre. Since using Redox products, he said they have had consistent increases in production, peaking at more than 16,000 pounds per acre. 

Harper said he hopes his children will one day continue the family’s agricultural legacy. They enjoy being around the farm and helping with chores, so there’s hope they will maintain the family farm when that time comes.