Aug 13, 2012

USDA forecasts size of 2012 apple crop

USDA has released its forecast of the size of the 2012 U.S. apple crop: 192 million bushels. That’s down 14 percent from the 2011 crop of 224 million bushels.

Washington state, the top producer, had a crop forecast of 136 million bushels, a 5 percent increase from its 2011 crop. New York state and Michigan, traditionally the No. 2 and No. 3 producers, were hit hard by the weather this year. New York’s apple crop was forecast at 14 million bushels, less than half its 2011 crop of 29 million bushels.

Michigan’s crop was forecast 2.5 million bushels, much less than last year’s crop of 23.5 million bushels.

Here are the 2012 estimates for the other top-producing states: Pennsylvania (11.5 million bushels); California (6.6 million bushels); Virginia (5.5 million bushels); Oregon (2.7 million bushels).

The U.S. apple industry will announce its crop forecast on Friday, Aug. 17.