Crop Facts
Harvest of Washington apples begins in mid-August and generally ends in early November. Each year, Washington harvests between 80 million and 103 million boxes of apples, each weighing about 40 pounds.
The estimate of this year’s crop is comprised of:
|
36% |
|
10% |
|
13% |
|
16% |
|
14% |
|
4% |
|
1% |
|
2% |
|
2% |
Other |
2% |
Approximate harvest-start times* for key Washington apple varieties are:
|
mid-August |
|
early September |
|
mid-September |
|
late September |
|
mid-October |
|
mid-October |
|
mid-October |
|
mid-October |
|
late October to early November |
Apple Crop Fun Facts
10 - 12 billion apples are handpicked in Washington State each year.
Each Washington apple is picked by hand. There are no harvest machines to pick apples.
If you put all of the Washington State apples picked in a year side-by-side, they would circle the Earth 12 times.
About 2,500 known varieties of apples are grown in the United States. More than 7,500 are grown worldwide.
Last year, the average U.S. consumer ate 19 pounds of fresh apples.
Red Delicious is the apple variety named as favorite by most consumers.
Apples are the largest agricultural product grown in Washington State.
Apples originated in Kazakhstan and were carried east by traders on the Silk Road.
The only apple native to North America is the crabapple.
Apple seeds are like people; you will never get the exact same type of apple from a planted seed.
The Red Delicious apple began life as a chance seedling on an Iowa farm. A chance seedling is a viable apple variety that grows from a seed.
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