Pre-sliced apple craze will reach valley

Tag : plant care


TIMBERVILLE - A growing taste for pre-sliced apples and other fruit is boosting demand for Virginia growers, but those in the Shenandoah Valley say it's not having a big impact here. At least not yet. Jaime G. Williams, president of Turkey Knob Apples, said Tuesday that while the growing national trade in pre-sliced apples won't affect his business, it's something the industry as a whole is watching closely. "It's not showing up in our business, although it's definitely having an impact on the [fruit] industry," said Williams. State officials for agriculture say figures suggest a trend toward the marketing of pre-cut apples. According to the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, sales of pre-cut fruit and vegetables rose 38 percent nationally from 2006 to 2007, reaching an all-time high.

Spencer Neale, commodity and marketing specialist for the federation, calls demand for pre-cut apples "an emerging market" that growers in Virginia are still exploring. "The demand is growing, especially in the institutional markets like schools, restaurants and amusement parks," said Neale.

Neale estimates that more than half of the state's apples go to processors to be made into juice or sauce. "To me, the key issue [regarding pre-sliced apples] has to do with demand for our apple crop," said Neale. "If slices are a new market, that's gonna boost demand because you're increasing apple consumption."

Another Option

With apple orchards in foreign countries competing in global markets, pre-sliced apples may give apple producers in the commonwealth a timely value-added product, said Neale. "Right now, supply isn't keeping up with demand," said Neale. "That is a good thing for our growers. How big this [pre-cut] segment of the industry will grow is still unfolding, but our apple growers are looking at it closely."

But there's a downside to this new trend, growers say. One challenge to the growth of the pre-sliced market remains the high cost of equipment required to cut apples, said Neale. In whatever form they're sold, apples remain one of the state's premier crops. According to figures from the Virginia Agricultural Statistics Service for 2006, the latest available data, apples ranked as Virginia's eighth-largest agricultural crop. Apples generated more than $22 million in cash receipts that year.

A strong demand for unprocessed fruit guides growers in the Valley. Williams, whose company supplies apples for various grocery chains throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, said his business does not market pre-cut apples. "Our primary market is fresh fruit," said Williams, who added that increased shipping costs to processors who cut apples are a major reason many growers forego that market. More sales of pre-cut apples may lower supplies of fresh apples, said Williams.

The Whole Idea

Financially, growers in the Valley say that selling apples to processors makes little sense. Gary McDonald, an apple grower from Stephen City who sells some of his apples at the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction, insists he gets far more for whole apples than he ever would for the processed version.

McDonald, 59, a fourth-generation fruit grower, said he quit selling to processors seven years ago. He gets, he says, three times as much for vending his apples at the produce auction or from his two markets closer to home.

"I'll push out all my apple orchards before I'll sell pre-cut apples," said McDonald. "Processors [practically] steal apples. I see no reason to search for another market."