Bob Mast, VP of Marketing for CMI, stated, “Our early spring cooler temperatures that we have had, basically, have delayed the harvest by about ten to fourteen days on most of the varieties. The warm weather can move some varieties up a bit, but we are still looking at about a ten to twelve day delay from last year. We’ve got an empty pipeline out there. The imports this season were at very low levels and the northwest crop cleaned up very nicely. There are a few varieties left but not much fruit to speak of left. Retailers are in the mode where they are shifting their displays over to the Fall set and with the clean crop that we’ve got, and the good fruit that we’ve got, there will be ample opportunities for promotion.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">www.cmiapples.com<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Roger Pepperl, Marketing Director for Stemilt, explained, “It’s too early to really tell if we are going to hit our target markets or not, but so far we are doing pretty well. Keep in mind the crop is still late like it’s been on everything on the west coast. We are out harvesting Galas pretty strong right now. We are starting to dabble in some Honey Crisp in a very small way. We have picked some Minneiska, which is the Sweet Tango. We had a little heat last week and reached some hundred degree temperatures but we are expecting dip downs this week and it is going to starting cooling off as we reach the weekend. That cool weather is going to help the apples color up and get closer to harvest with some of the varieties that we haven’t harvested yet.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">www.stemilt.com<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Suzanne Wolter, Director of Marketing for Rainier Fruit Company, said, “All summer we have been ten to fourteen days behind. Last week, we experienced the hottest weather of the summer temperatures in the upper nineties from Wednesday through Monday of this week. When we hit those really high temperatures, the trees shut down so that everything stops both the internal and external coloring. Now, with temperatures projected in the mid seventies to eighties that will bring on color and internal and will really help the fruit. In general, supplies are very limited and we are starting to see some early harvest. Overall, it looks like a really nice crop, very good promotional opportunities, especially when we head into later part of September and early October.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">www.rainierfruit.com<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
