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08/02/10Going To MarketNew York will have a nice, marketable crop of apples this year. We escaped serious freeze injury this spring, and when you look at the bloom dates this year, one could easily say, we are lucky to have apples on the tree at all. Scattered low temperature did reduce the crop, down from last year's 32.8 million bushel crop, but our growing season has been awesome so far. So, we are getting ready to peddle the crop—and earlier that ever before. Sparking the interest of retailers for fresh crop apples 10-18 days earlier than normal has been a challenge. As all marketers know, many decisions are made "According to Mac" and that would be the computer, not the apple. Ads are set, based on the ad date from last year, and it takes a lot of good marketing to change those easy... |
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07/25/10Consumer OutreachReaching consumers with information about pears is an important way to raise awareness and usage. One of the best ways to reach our target consumer in the United States today continues to be through magazine articles. When a publication carries an article about pears it acts as a third party endorsement in publications that consumers trust.We reach out to magazine editors and writers (as well as bloggers) all year long, providing them a constant reminder of any new research, recipes, or just continuous information about pear varieties and usage. As our communications Director, Cristie Mather reports in our latest newsletter, “Our ongoing efforts targeting consumer media are paying off early this season, as a number of top food and lifestyle magazines are featuring pear recipes... |
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07/21/10The Good/Bad/Ugly of New YorkGreetings from New York State. I have been AWOL for a while, caught up in local issues that continue to be troublesome. For those who know me, you will realize that I am New York through and though, but these days, New York Blue seems to fit better. We continue to struggle with our lame-duck administration and an incomplete state budget that is 112 days late. Leadership in Albany is also AWOL. On top of that, on the apple front, different challenges continue to pop up on a regular basis. The good news is that our crop looks good. We are not breaking limbs, despite plenty of rain and heat. We will likely be less than last year's 32.8 million bushel crop, but hitting our 5-year average is probable. Since I am talking about last year's numbers, let me share the most recent USDA data as... |
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07/19/10Spreading the WordWhen cherry harvest in full swing, so should be the orchard tours. This year is no exception, with the National Cherry Festival as this year's back drop. The timing was perfect for this year's "Blogger Tour". Social Media is hot and technology has created new opportunities to tell the cherry story.Weber Shandwick and the Cherry Team in Chicago have done a terrific job in not only seeing the opportunity, but actually developing a strategy to get our story out. Consumers today are the holy grail. Getting to them in a way that holds their attention and engages themis no small feat. Especially younger consumers today who are not reading newspapers or watching the nightlynews, but are instead relying totally on the Web and their favorite blogs. Ag, too, is complicated and it is... |
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07/15/10Earliest Harvest on RecordThe sweet and tart cherry harvest started two weeks ahead of normal and three weeks ahead of last year in Michigan. The harvest in Southwest Michigan is now complete with West Central and Northwest at the half-way mark. Last week's report from the Cherry IndustryAdministrative Board indicated that Northwest Michigan has harvested 23.8 million pounds to date against a 72.5-million-pound June estimate. West Central has harvested 32.6 million pounds to date, against their estimate of 53 million pounds. Southwest is at 11.7 million pounds and will not likely hit their forecast number of 14.5 million pounds. Pennsylvania is now at 2.2 million pounds. In New York and Wisconsin harvest is underway.The weather in the East has been very hot and humid. This is unlike last year, when we never hit... |
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07/02/10Shake ItThe tart cherry harvest is in full swing across the State of Michigan. Harvest started in Southwest Michigan on June 24th, which is a record early start. This year we are a good two weeks ahead of normal, with a lighter-than-normal crop. West Central and Northwest Michigan both came on line this week with both production regions bunched up. The weather has been a bit wild with lots of strong winds (80 mph) and rain in our southern regions about two weeks ago with power outages and down trees. This is always a challenge for growers just before harvest. The central and northern regions were not hit by the storm. We expect to be completely through harvest by the end of July this year, which is unheard of here in Michigan. I was in Wisconsin last week, and they are not far behind.... |
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06/25/10Finally, Cherry Growers Get Serious About HarvestAs we approach the last few days of shipping before the window for the 4th of July holiday closes; I find myself worrying that we are going to have a “relapse” to last year’s challenging cherry season. Certainly, volume is increasing daily, and I expect us to be up to 300,000-plus boxes shipped by today … June 25. All told, we have only shipped 1.5 million boxes of cherries out to the market and odds are that we will be a paltry 3 million boxes shipped by the time our window closes on June 28th. Of that, one third will be exported leaving only 2 million boxes for the cherry-hungry domestic market. These are some of the same key factors that led to last year’s challenges—and not a good way to build the moment we would like to have coming into... |
06/19/10Meeting Washington leadersAbout ten days ago, we were invited to meet with the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, and the Administrator of EPA, Lisa Jackson. This past Monday the Cherry Marketing Institutes Chairman of the Board, Randy Willmeng and I traveled to Washington for the meeting. We started the day with a visit in Senator Stabenow's office to chat about the 2012 Farm Bill and the needs and hopes of Specialty Crop Farmers and specifically the Cherry Industry. We finished the morning with an hour and a half meeting with two cabinet level individuals.The year 2009 was a mammoth cherry crop that picked out at 352.9 million pounds. The average production up to the 2009 crop was 242.6 million pounds. The quality was premier and, as a result, we packed the largest crop since 1964. This past season... |
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06/18/10Fresh Pear EstimatesThe Pear Bureau and Fresh Pear Committee held their annual meetings in Portland on June 2nd and 3rd. In addition to extensive reports on past and future activities, the promotion budgets were approved and the first crop estimates were finalized.One of the highlights of the meetings was the promotion video. The video gives a good overview of the activities and promotions that the Pear Bureau conducts around the world on behalf of the fresh pear growers in the Northwest. You can see this year’s video as well as archived versions on the member’s Web site: http://trade.usapears.com/Now back to the crop forecast. This year’s fresh pear crop is projected to be on par with the five-year average. With a projected total of approximately 18.5 million standard-box equivalents,... |
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06/11/10Washington's foreign marketplaceWhen ‘we’ look at the Washington Apple Commission's Export Program, our focus is drawn to internal growth (overall crop volume) while the priority is diversification of consumer varietal preference to mesh with the state's production. It’s not only about the quantity the industry exports, but which specific varieties the commission supports with promotion to keep the balance between Washington production and consumer demand.Every market is important to Washington apple growers, but three lend themselves to support our growth while having opportunity for varietal diversification: China, India, and Russia. China and India are obvious—two of the most populous countries in the world with an exploding middle class. However, Russia is the world’s largest... |
