The bad weather conditions that troubled California’s last apple growing season haven’t carried over to the current one, with a bumper harvest projected for this year, according to US site Capital Press.
Growers expect to produce 3.18m cartons (19kg) of apples this year, up 780,000 cartons on last season, but falling just short of last year’s early season projection of 3.3m cartons.
The state’s Granny Smith apples are leading the revival with a projected crop of 1.9m cartons, and Galas have been tipped to perform strongly too. Granny Smith is the most common variety grown in California, followed by Gala.
Industry officials are also reporting a positive outlook in the marketplace, citing a poor Chilean season and a lack of stored Washington State apples.
California exports about a third of its apple crop, mostly to Canada, and the season begins in August with Granny Smith.
