Economics
The organic food market is dynamic and growing. In Washington State, organic tree fruit production accounts for over half of the farmgate value of organic crops and livestock produced, and the state is the leading producer in the country of organic apples, pears, and cherries. WSU faculty work with industry and organic sector partners worldwide to monitor trends in organic tree fruit and to provide outlooks to growers and the industry to help them with their strategic decisions.
2016 Projections. The following two presentations were delivered in January 2016 and have been revised and annotated for use here. They contain data on the current organic apple situation in Washington along with projections of future supply, value, and price.
- Increasing Organic Production: Where are we headed? 2016
- Organic Apple Outlook: 2015/2016 Market Update & 2016 CY Forecast
2015 Organic session, Wash. St. Tree Fruit Assoc. annual meeting, Dec. 8, 2015, Yakima, WA. The Organic Tree Fruit Sector session focused on the current status of organic tree fruit markets along with discussions of several important production and policy issues.
- Sector trends – global to local. David Granatstein, Washington State University
- View from the fresh fruit shipper. Howard Nager, Domex/Superfresh Growers
- The role of fresh sliced organic. Tony Freytag, Crunch Pak
Presentations
- Survey of organic growers toolbox-Information gaps and research needs
- An in-store assessment of consumer willingness to pay for organic apples. Nate Skuza, Eastern Washington University.
Websites
- Tree Fruit Economics page, Washington State University
- Crop Enterprise Budget page, Washington State University
Publications
- 2014 Cost Estimates of Establishing, Producing, and Packing Organic Gala apples in Washington. WSU TB19
- 2014 Cost Estimates of Establishing, Producing, and Packing Organic Red Delicious apples in Washington. WSU TB12
- A Cost Comparison of Organic and Conventional Apple Production in the State of Washington. 2013. M. Taylor and D. Granatstein, Crop Management doi:10.1094/CM-2013-2013-0429-05-RS. A comparison of organic ‘Gala’ apple production in Washington State using two methods: crop enterprise budgets, and data from the USDA National Ag Statistics Service ARMS apple survey.
Marketing
Presentations
- Ecolabels for Agriculture. D. Granatstein, A pdf powerpoint describing trends for ecolabels in 2008.
Manuscripts
- Alternative Markets for Fruit: Organic and IFP, by David Granatstein. A PDF manuscript.
- Emerging Ecolabels for Food Products, by David Granatstein. A PDF manuscript.
More Resources
- Organic, What is It? by Joe Gabriel, Oregon Organic Marketing, December 2000. A description of the historical trends in markets for organic apples and pears and what the market might look like in the next 5-10 years.
- Food Alliance web site. The Food Alliance is a non-profit organization based in Portland, OR, working to develop incentives for more sustainable farming through the use of ecolabels and consumer education.