Fruit Industry Snapshot

Tree Fruit

• U.S. fresh apple holdings as of March 2023 totaled 62.0 million bushels, 7% lower than the inventories reported last March and 10% lower than the March five-year average. New York apple holdings (total) amounted to 6.15 million bushels, 20% below last year.¹ 

• A severe cold snap has killed the flower buds of many peach trees throughout the region, and some growers project that they have lost the entire crop for 2023. 

Cranberries

• Many new cranberry beds have been developed in Massachusetts over the last year. The increase in cranberry bog renovation was fueled by the MDAR Cranberry Renovation Grant and the MA Cranberry Bog Renovation tax credit. It is too early in the year to start projecting 2023 yields.Cranberry bogs will be coming out of dormancy in the next few weeks and will need to start being frost protected. Pricing is projected to be stable from the previous year. Handlers are wrestling with increased production costs due to inflation which may put downward pressures on pricing. One concern for growers are town level restrictions being placed on removal of sand, a key input for cranberry production.

Wine/Craft Beverage

• Retail wine sales at tasting rooms in 2022 appear to have dropped back to historic baseline levels after an exceptional 2020 and 2021. Visitor numbers are down a bit, however, tasting fees remain strong. The 2022 grape crop was quite a bit smaller in some parts of NY (by as much as 33%) due to winter injury and a dry summer. Some varieties were impacted more than others. Wineries who buy most of their grapes had to pay only a bit more since there were ample supplies coming into the year. The greater impact was on growers.